Biodegradable thermoplastic polyurethanes incorporating polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane.

A new hybrid thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) system that incorporates an organic, biodegradable poly(D, L-lactide) soft block with a hard block bearing the inorganic polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane (POSS) moiety is introduced and studied. Changes in the polyol composition made through variation of the hydrophilic initiator molecular weight show direct control of the final transition temperatures. Incorporating POSS into the hard segments allows for excellent elasticity above T(g), as evidenced with dynamic mechanical analysis, not seen in most other biodegradable materials. This elasticity is attributed to physical cross-links formed in the hard block through POSS crystallization, as revealed with wide-angle X-ray diffraction. Increasing the POSS incorporation level in the TPU hard block was observed to increase crystallinity and also the rigidity of the material. The highest incorporation, using a statistical average of three POSS units per hard block, demonstrated one-way shape memory with excellent shape fixing capabilities. In vitro degradation of this sample was also investigated during a two month period. Moderate water uptake and dramatic molecular weight decrease were immediately observed although large mass loss (approximately 20 wt %) was not observed until the two month time point.

In vivo kinetic degradation analysis and biocompatibility of aliphatic polyester polyurethanes.

Polyester polyurethanes incorporating polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane (POSS) as the crystalline hard block were evaluated for biocompatibility and degradation over 24 weeks in vivo. In vitro studies were also used to predict the onset of mass loss. The molecular weight of each sample was found to decrease quickly over an 8 week period and then became constant due to the nondegrading POSS hard block. Kinetic analysis of the initial molecular weight change indicated that the degradation rate was dependent on the soft block composition. Crystallinity, melting temperature, and heat of fusion of the polyurethanes were found to increase during degradation as the amorphous polyester soft segments were hydrolyzed. The histological analysis of each polymer demonstrated rapid resolution of the acute and chronic inflammatory responses and the development of expected, normal foreign body reaction, consisting of adherent macrophages and foreign body giant cells on the surface of the polymers, and fibrous capsule formation around the polymer. No acute and/or chronic inflammation was seen after 3 weeks, indicating that the polymers in film form and biodegraded form, that is, particles, were biocompatible and did not elicit inflammatory responses expected for toxic or nonbiocompatible materials.

Tailored drug release from biodegradable stent coatings based on hybrid polyurethanes.

Highly adjustable and precisely controllable drug release from a biodegradable stent coating was achieved using a unique family of nanostructured hybrid polyurethanes. These polyurethanes are polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane thermoplastic polyurethanes (POSS TPUs) featuring alternating multiblock structures formed by nanostructured hard segments of POSS and biodegradable soft segments of a polylactide/caprolactone copolymer (P(DLLA-co-CL)) incorporating polyethylene glycol (PEG) covalently. POSS aggregated to form crystals serving as physical crosslinks on the nanometer scale, while the soft segments were designed carefully to modulate the drug release rate from the POSS TPU stent coatings in PBS buffer solution, with 90% of the drug releasing from within half a day to about 90 days. In order to interpret the underlying drug release mechanisms, an approximation model capable of describing the entire drug release process was developed. This model is based on Fickian diffusional transport, but also takes into account the polymer degradation and/or swelling of the coating, depending on the dominance of the degradation/swelling behavior compared to that of the diffusion characteristics. A general methodology was utilized for statistically fitting the drug release curves from the POSS TPU stent coatings using the model. We observed that the fitted initial drug release diffusion coefficient covered more than three orders of magnitude, depending on the polymer glass transition temperature (T(g)), according to a modified Williams-Landel-Ferry (WLF) equation. In addition, two additional rate constants describing the impact of degradation and swelling on drug elution were determined and found to be consistent with independent measurements. Our results clearly show that the studied hybrid polyurethane family allows a drug release rate that is effectively manipulated through variation in polymer T(g), degradation rate, and thickness increment rate.