Poly-Alanine-ε-Caprolacton-Methacrylate as Scaffold Material with Tuneable Biomechanical Properties for Osteochondral Implants

Abstract

An aging population and injury-related damage of the bone substance lead to an increasing need of innovative materials for the regeneration of osteochondral defects. Biodegradable polymers form the basis for suitable artificial implants intended for bone replacement or bone augmentation. The great advantage of these structures is the site-specific implant design, which leads to a considerable improvement in patient outcomes and significantly reduced post-operative regeneration times. Thus, biomechanical and biochemical parameters as well as the rate of degradation can be set by the selection of the polymer system and the processing technology. Within this study, we developed a polymer platform based on the amino acid Alanine and ε-Caprolacton for use as raw material for osteochondral implants. The biomechanical and degradation properties of these Poly-(Alanine-co-ε-Caprolacton)-Methacrylate (ACM) copolymers can be adjusted by changing the ratio of the monomers. Fabrication of artificial structures for musculo-skeletal tissue engineering was done by Two-Photon-Polymerization (2PP), which represents an innovative technique for generating defined scaffolds with tailor-made mechanical and structural properties. Here we show the synthesis, physicochemical characterization, as well as first results for structuring ACM using 2PP technology. The data demonstrate the high potential of ACM copolymers as precursors for the fabrication of biomimetic implants for bone-cartilage reconstruction.

Synthetic Polypeptide–Polyester PolyHIPEs Prepared by Thiol–Ene Photopolymerization

“…40 The poly(ester-amides) synthesized so far are generally prepared by polycondensation reactions 41 or by ROP of morpholine-2,5dione derivatives. 42 In this work, we present a method for the preparation of synthetic polypeptide−polyester polyHIPEs, in which we used thiol−ene step-growth polymerization for the covalent coupling of well-defined poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG) and PCL star macromonomers. In this way, we were able to tune the mechanical properties of thus prepared synthetic polypeptide− polyester polyHIPEs.…”

“…Poly­(ester-amides) combine the polyester component with hydrolyzable ester groups and polyamide component with pendant functionality that depends on the amino acids used . The poly­(ester-amides) synthesized so far are generally prepared by polycondensation reactions or by ROP of morpholine-2,5-dione derivatives …”