Abstract
Polyurethane foams provide a wide range of applications as a biomaterial system due to the ability to tune their physical, chemical, and biological properties to meet the requirements of the intended applications. Another key parameter that determines the usability of this biomaterial is its degradability under body conditions. Several current approaches focus on slowing the degradation rate for applications that require the implant to be present for a longer time frame (over 100 days). Here, biostable shape memory polymer (SMP) foams were synthesized with added ether-containing monomers to tune the degradation rates. The physical, thermal and shape memory properties of these foams were characterized along with their cytocompatibility and blood interactions. Degradation profiles were assessed in vitro in oxidative (3% H2O2; real-time) and hydrolytic media (0.1 M NaOH; accelerated) at 37 °C. The resulting foams had tunable degradation rates, with up 15% mass remaining after 108 days, and controlled erosion profiles. These easy-to-use, shape-filling SMP foams have the potential for various biomaterial applications where longer-term stability without the need for implant removal is desired.
Highlights
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are smart materials with many potential biomedical applications
While tested in an accelerated oxidative degradation media (20% H2O2 catalyzed by 0.1 M CoCl2), shape memory polymer (SMP) films had more than 80% mass remaining after 100 days and porous SMP foams had close to 75% mass remaining after 40 days
A reduction in SMP foam degradation rate was achieved by incorporating ether linkages
Summary
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are smart materials with many potential biomedical applications. Within the large field of polyurethane SMPs, a crosslinked, amorphous polyurethane SMP foam system has been used for vascular occlusion applications, such as aneurysm filling [12,13], peripheral vascular disease [14], and hemorrhage control [15] These materials are highly tunable, with prior work focusing on altering shape memory profiles, [16] pore structure [17], and/or toughness [18] and on incorporation of functional motifs to enable in vivo imaging [19,20] or infection control [21]. The composite that did have a well-retained antioxidant content after washing underwent complete release of the antioxidant during the first three days of the degradation study, and did not significantly alter the long-term degradation profile While these SMP foams have been widely employed in embolic applications, none of the prior studies characterized blood interactions following modifications, which are highly dependent on material chemistry. In the long-term, these foams could provide an option for biomaterial implants with controlled degradation after implantation to maintain scaffold properties over longer time frames and to eliminate the need for implant removal
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