Thein-vitro degradation of poly(glycolic acid) sutures ? effect of pH

✍ Scribed by Chu, C. C.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 480 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9304
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.820150604

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Tensile strength of poly(glycolic acid) suture (PGA) of size 2–0 was examined as a function of three pH levels, 5.25,7.44, and 10.09 of the buffer. Cord and yarn grip was used to eliminate grip‐induced failure of breaking strength tests. It was found that Dexon sutures degraded significantly faster in pH = 10.09 buffer than the other two lower pH buffers. There was no significant difference in degradation rate at pH = 5.25 and 7.44. At 7 days, PGA sutures lost almost half of its original tensile strength at pH = 10.09, while the same sutures still remained more than 95% of their original breaking strength at buffers of pH = 5.25 and 7.44. After 21 days, no trace of sutures could be detected in the buffer of pH = 10.09 while about 20% strength still remained in the buffers of pH = 7.44 and 5.25. Cage effect in the crystalline phase and pH dependent hydrogen bonding were introduced to explain the difference in degradation phenomenon of PGA at buffers of various pH.