In the last half-century, the development of biodegradable polymeric materials for biomedical applications has advanced significantly. Biodegradable polymeric materials are favored in the development of therapeutic devices, including temporary implants and three-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering. Further advancements have occurred in the utilization of biodegradable polymeric materials for pharmacological applications such as delivery vehicles for controlled/sustained drug release. These applications require particular physicochemical, biological, and degradation properties of the materials to deliver effective therapy. As a result, a wide range of natural or synthetic polymers able to undergo hydrolytic or enzymatic degradation is being studied for biomedical applications. This review outlines the current development of biodegradable natural and synthetic polymeric materials for various biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, temporary implants, wound healing, and drug delivery.

/pdf/current-development-of-biodegradable-polymeric-materials-for-40tq8115qp.pdf

Current development of biodegradable polymeric materials for biomedical applications

Biofabrication of bone tissue: approaches, challenges and translation for bone regeneration.

Poly(lactic acid) nanofibrous scaffolds for tissue engineering.

The versatile electrospinning technique is recognized as an efficient strategy to deliver active pharmaceutical ingredients and has gained tremendous progress in drug delivery, tissue engineering, cancer therapy, and disease diagnosis. Numerous drug delivery systems fabricated through electrospinning regarding the carrier compositions, drug incorporation techniques, release kinetics, and the subsequent therapeutic efficacy are presented herein. Targeting for distinct applications, the composition of drug carriers vary from natural/synthetic polymers/blends, inorganic materials, and even hybrids. Various drug incorporation approaches through electrospinning are thoroughly discussed with respect to the principles, benefits, and limitations. To meet the various requirements in actual sophisticated in vivo environments and to overcome the limitations of a single carrier system, feasible combinations of multiple drug-inclusion processes via electrospinning could be employed to achieve programmed, multi-staged, or stimuli-triggered release of multiple drugs. The therapeutic efficacy of the designed electrospun drug-eluting systems is further verified in multiple biomedical applications and is comprehensively overviewed, demonstrating promising potential to address a variety of clinical challenges.

/pdf/electrospun-fibrous-architectures-for-drug-delivery-tissue-2l9xr2vbii.pdf

Electrospun Fibrous Architectures for Drug Delivery, Tissue Engineering and Cancer Therapy

The success of oil-based plastics and the continued growth of production and utilisation can be attributed to their cost, durability, strength to weight ratio, and eight contributions to the ease of everyday life. However, their mainly single use, durability and recalcitrant nature have led to a substantial increase of plastics as a fraction of municipal solid waste. The need to substitute single use products that are not easy to collect has inspired a lot of research towards finding sustainable replacements for oil-based plastics. In addition, specific physicochemical, biological, and degradation properties of biodegradable polymers have made them attractive materials for biomedical applications. This review summarises the advances in drug delivery systems, specifically design of nanoparticles based on the biodegradable polymers. We also discuss the research performed in the area of biophotonics and challenges and opportunities brought by the design and application of biodegradable polymers in tissue engineering. We then discuss state-of-the-art research in the design and application of biodegradable polymers in packaging and emphasise the advances in smart packaging development. Finally, we provide an overview of the biodegradation of these polymers and composites in managed and unmanaged environments.

Recent Advances in Bioplastics: Application and Biodegradation.

Introduction: Next-generation scaffolds for bone tissue engineering (BTE) should exhibit the appropriate combination of mechanical support and morphological guidance for cell proliferation and attachment while at the same time serving as matrices for sustained delivery of therapeutic drugs and/or biomolecular signals, such as growth factors. Drug delivery from BTE scaffolds to induce the formation of functional tissues, which may need to vary temporally and spatially, represents a versatile approach to manipulating the local environment for directing cell function and/or to treat common bone diseases or local infection. In addition, drug delivery from BTE is proposed to either increase the expression of tissue inductive factors or to block the expression of others factors that could inhibit bone tissue formation. Composite scaffolds which combine biopolymers and bioactive ceramics in mechanically competent 3D structures, including also organic–inorganic hybrids, are being widely developed for BTE, where t...

Composite polymer-bioceramic scaffolds with drug delivery capability for bone tissue engineering.

Cardiac tissue engineering (CTE) is currently a prime focus of research due to an enormous clinical need. In this work, a novel functional material, Poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), P(3HO), a medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), produced using bacterial fermentation, was studied as a new potential material for CTE. Engineered constructs with improved mechanical properties, crucial for supporting the organ during new tissue regeneration, and enhanced surface topography, to allow efficient cell adhesion and proliferation, were fabricated. Our results showed that the mechanical properties of the final patches were close to that of cardiac muscle. Biocompatibility of the P(3HO) neat patches, assessed using Neonatal ventricular rat myocytes (NVRM), showed that the polymer was as good as collagen in terms of cell viability, proliferation and adhesion. Enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation properties were observed when porous and fibrous structures were incorporated to the patches. Also, no deleterious effect was observed on the adults cardiomyocytes’ contraction when cardiomyocytes were seeded on the P(3HO) patches. Hence, P(3HO) based multifunctional cardiac patches are promising constructs for efficient CTE. This work will provide a positive impact on the development of P(3HO) and other PHAs as a novel new family of biodegradable functional materials with huge potential in a range of different biomedical applications, particularly CTE, leading to further interest and exploitation of these materials.

/pdf/poly-3-hydroxyoctanoate-a-promising-new-material-for-cardiac-6emi2wemjk.pdf

Poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), a promising new material for cardiac tissue engineering.

Chronic wound infections represent a significant burden to healthcare providers globally. Often, chronic wound healing is impeded by the presence of infection within the wound or wound bed. This can result in an increased healing time, healthcare cost and poor patient outcomes. Thus, there is a need for dressings that help the wound heal, in combination with early detection of wound infections to support prompt treatment. In this study, we demonstrate a novel, biocompatible wound dressing material, based on Polyhydroxyalkanoates, doped with graphene platelets, which can be used as an electrochemical sensing substrate for the detection of a common wound pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Through the detection of the redox active secondary metabolite, pyocyanin, we demonstrate that a dressing can be produced that will detect the presence of pyocyanin across clinically relevant concentrations. Furthermore, we show that this sensor can be used to identify the presence of pyocyanin in a culture of P. aeruginosa. Overall, the sensor substrate presented in this paper represents the first step toward a new dressing with the capacity to promote wound healing, detect the presence of infection and release antimicrobial drugs, on demand, to optimized healing.

/pdf/toward-a-closed-loop-integrated-biocompatible-biopolymer-1b13lihlbc.pdf

Prachi Dubey

Papers

Composite polymer-bioceramic scaffolds with drug delivery capability for bone tissue engineering.

Poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), a promising new material for cardiac tissue engineering.

Toward a closed loop, integrated biocompatible biopolymer wound dressing patch for detection and prevention of chronic wound infections

Novel Cardiac Patch Development Using Natural Biopolymers

Novel cardiac patch development using biopolymers and biocomposites