Effects of Structural Change Induced by Physical Aging on the Biodegradation Behavior of PLGA Films at Physiological Temperature

✍ Scribed by Taiyo Yoshioka; Naoki Kawazoe; Tetsuya Tateishi; Guoping Chen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 350 KB
• Volume: 296
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1438-7492
• DOI: 10.1002/mame.201100109

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The effects of structural changes induced by physical aging (namely, enthalpy relaxation) on the biodegradability of PLGA films at physiological temperature (37 °C) is investigated. The degradation rate and behavior of aged and non‐aged PLGA films are compared, and the effects of physical aging on the biodegradability of the PLGA film are determined. Prior to the degradation experiments, aged films are prepared by annealing the amorphous PLGA films at 25 °C for 5 d or more. The degradation rate of aged films in accelerated degradation tests using aqueous NaOH is higher than those of non‐aged films due to heterogeneous microscopic structural changes that occur during the aging process.

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