3 - Design of biodegradable polyurethanes and the interactions of the polymers and their degradation by-products within in vitro and in vivo environments

Abstract

From 2005 to 2015 the development of new biodegradable polymers and the use of established biodegradable materials such as polylactic–glycolic acid have dominated the landscape of the implantable biomedical devices field, driven in large part by the need for tissue engineering (TE) and drug delivery applications. This chapter provides an overview of the contributions that degradable polyurethanes (PUs) have made over the past decade, and starts with a brief summary of PU chemistry and their mechanisms of biodegradation, condenses knowledge learned from the failure of PU devices in the 1980s, elaborates on the extensive knowledge built from the work on inflammatory processes involved in wound healing and biodegradation in the 1990s, and then provides a comprehensive analysis of new degradable PU synthesis from 2005 to 2015, with comments on their strategic uses in TE, interactions with primary and stem cells, and highlights their innovative applications in drug delivery.