A Novel Family of Biodegradable Poly(ester amide) Elastomers

✍ Scribed by Hao Cheng; Paulina S. Hill; Daniel J. Siegwart; Nathaniel Vacanti; Abigail K. R. Lytton-Jean; Seung-Woo Cho; Anne Ye; Robert Langer; Daniel G. Anderson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 581 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0935-9648
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201003482

✦ Synopsis

Biomaterials play a central role in many areas of medicine, including drug delivery, tissue regeneration and implantable devices. [1][2][3] For some applications, biodegradable elastomeric materials have particular utility, since their compliance under force closely resembles the elastic nature of many human tissues. These materials have been utilized in various fi elds of tissue engineering, such as bone formation, nerve regeneration, vascular repair, wound healing, treatment of retinal degeneration and myocardial repair. Despite their broad potential utility, different applications require elastomers with specifi cally tuned mechanical, biological, and degradation profi les to match the target tissue requirements. Here, we describe the development of a family of biodegradable poly(ester amide) elastomers that are demonstrated to possess excellent elasticity under hydrated conditions, and are biocompatible and degradable in vivo. Analysis of the chemical/physical properties of these materials also provides insight into the structure/function relationships of biomaterials, particularly how molecular structures affect mechanical properties and biocompatibility.

Poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) and its analog, poly(xylitolsebacate) (PXS) are polyester elastomers that have been shown to be biocompatible in vivo. [ 11 , 21 ] PGS is elastic in both dehydrated and hydrated conditions, with a relatively low modulus and rapid in vivo degradation kinetics. Further crosslinking between hydroxyl and carboxyl groups leads to elastomers with a higher modulus and a slower degradation rate, but at the expense of reduced elasticity. PXS has a similar ultimate www.advmat.