Degradation studies on mesostructured bioceramic/polymer hybrid

• Main Author: Ho, Wei Jie.
• Other Authors: Loo Say Chye Joachim
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/38611
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Tissue engineering is a new approach to repair and regenerate functional tissue. This procedure reduces the need for additional surgeries and permanent implants. Bioceramics and polymers have been used to generate porous tissue engineering scaffolds due to their biocompatibility and other useful properties. However bioceramics are known to have low fracture toughness while polymers will produce acidic degradation products materials. Therefore bioceramics and polymers are usually combined to create composites. The aim of this report is to investigate the effects of mesoporous bioceramics during in vitro degradation of bioceramic/polymer hybrids. Mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) and mesoporous hydroxyapatite (MHA) were successfully synthesized. They were incorporated into 70/30 poly(L-lactide-co-ε caprolactone) (PLC) and 75/25 poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) at different weight ratios to generate films. The films were later cut and incubated into pH 7.4 phosphate buffered solution at 37 oC for a 12 weeks degradation study. Meanwhile, the buffer was refreshed once a week. During this period, wet weights and dry weights were measured. Results indicated that MBG and MHA had increased the bulk hydrophilicity of all composites. In addition, MBG composites were found to have higher water absorption than MHA composites. Similarly, MBG/PLC, MHA/PLC and MBG/PLGA films had larger weight loss than pure polymers. Interestingly, MHA/PLGA composite had a smaller weight loss than pure PLGA. Incorporation of MBG did not alter the rate of hydrolysis in PLC films; however MHA seemed to have accelerated PLC degradation. On the other hand, MBG and MHA had slowed down PLGA degradation effectively.