Recent progress of poly(glycerol adipate)-based network materials toward tissue engineering applications.

Poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) is one of the aliphatic polyesters of glycerol. The most studied biomedical application of poly(glycerol adipate) is the use of its nanoparticles as drug delivery carriers. The PGA prepolymer can be crosslinked to network materials. The biomedical application of PGA-based network materials has largely remained unexplored till recently. The PGA-based network materials, such as poly(glycerol sebacate) elastomers, can be used in soft tissue regeneration due to their mechanical properties. The modulus of elasticity of PGA elastomers is within the range of MPa, which corresponds to the mechanical properties of human soft tissues. This short review aims at briefly summarizing the possible applications of PGA-based elastomers in tissue engineering, as indicated in recent years in research publications.

Tunable structure and linear viscoelastic properties of poly(glycerol adipate urethane)-based elastomeric composites for tissue regeneration.

Elastomeric biocomposites based on poly(glycerol adipate urethane) and hydroxyapatite were fabricated for tissue regeneration. The poly(glycerol adipate urethane) (PGAU) elastomeric composite matrices were obtained by chemical crosslinking of the poly(glycerol adipate) prepolymer (pPGA) with diisocyanate derivative of L-lysine. Two series of composites varying in the amount of L-lysine diisocyanate ethyl ester (LDI) used as a crosslinking agent were manufactured. As a ceramic filler both unmodified and L-lysine surface-modified hydroxyapatite (HAP) particles were used. The novelty of our research consists in the manufactured elastomeric materials and characterization of their linear viscoelastic (LVE) properties. The LVE properties of the composites were investigated by means of dynamic thermomechanical analysis. Frequency sweep and amplitude sweep measurements were performed in shear mode. The influence of the crosslinking agent (LDI) amount, HAP content and surface modification of HAP on the LVE properties of the composites was determined based on the analysis of the master curves of storage (G') and loss (G″) moduli and of tanδ of the composites. Depending on the amount of LDI, HAP and surface modification, the materials differ in the values of rubber elasticity plateau modulus (G0) and G' and G″ determined at selected shear frequencies and at the glassy state. G0 ranges from 278 kPa to 3.98 MPa, G' in the glassy state is within the range of 219 MPa-459 MPa. The G0 values of the PGAU-based composites are within the stiffness range of soft tissue. In view of the choice of HAP as the ceramic component and the G0 values, elastomeric composites have the potential to be used as filling materials in small bone defects (due to their mechanical similarity to osteoid) as well as materials for cartilage tissue regeneration.