Premium
Nondegradative microextrusion of resorbable polyesters for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications: The cases of poly‐lactic‐acid and poly‐caprolactone
Author(s) -
Perale G.,
Pertici G.,
Giordano C.,
Daniele F.,
Masi M.,
Maccagnan S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.27875
Subject(s) - polycaprolactone , polyester , biodegradable polymer , polymer , materials science , drug delivery , caprolactone , tissue engineering , polymer science , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , biomedical engineering , composite material , copolymer , medicine , engineering
In recent years biodegradable polymers, particularly polyesters such as the poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL), have gained high interests for their applicability in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields where they're used for manufacturing various different resorbable devices, from tissue engineering scaffolds to controlled drug release systems. Despite many positive characteristics, processability of these materials still remains a critical issue as they easily tend to degrade during manufacturing. In this article we aimed to assess microextrusion as a nondegradative process for manufacturing PLA and PCL. The results we experimentally obtained, that are hereby presented, set a new point in the on‐going debate on degradation during processing of resorbable polymers as they allow to affirm that microextrusion leaves unmodified molecular weight distributions without producing any evident reductions in mean molecular weight. Microextrusion thus represents a risk‐free high molecular weight polymer processing solution for obtaining nondegraded products within pharmaceutical and biomedical production lines, such as for scaffolds for tissue engineering applications or drug delivery. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008