Abstract
Biodegradable polymeric biomaterials offer a significant advantage in disposable or fast-consuming products in medical applications. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is an example of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), i.e., one group of natural polyesters that are byproducts of reactions taking place in microorganisms in conditions with an excess carbon source. PHA polymers are a promising material for the production of everyday materials and biomedical applications. Due to the high number of monomers in the group, PHAs permit modifications enabling the production of copolymers of different compositions and with different proportions of individual monomers. In order to change and improve the properties of polymer fibers, PHAs are combined with either other natural and synthetic polymers or additives of inorganic phases. Importantly, electrospun PHBV fibers and mats showed an enormous potential in both the medical field (tissue engineering scaffolds, plasters, wound healing, drug delivery systems) and industrial applications (filter systems, food packaging). This Review summarizes the current state of the art in processing PHBV, especially by electrospinning, its degradation processes, and biocompatibility studies, starting from a general introduction to the PHA group of polymers.
Highlights
Polymeric biodegradable biomaterials offer a significant advantage in medical applications thanks to their ability to break down and be removed after serving their purpose
The culminating point in plastics processing was the exploration of polylactide, a fully biodegradable polymer made from cornmeal,[3,4] which was obtained by DuPont in the first half of the 19th century
The maximum drug release efficiency in PHBV membranes with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) ranged from 80% to 99%, while the drug delivery rate from unmodified PHBV fibers was less than 40%
Summary
Polymeric biodegradable biomaterials offer a significant advantage in medical applications thanks to their ability to break down and be removed after serving their purpose. The latter group includes the widely used polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) This is a biodegradable thermoplastic polyester, produced and stored by various species of bacteria, which has been introduced onto the plastics market.[4−9] In the case of medical devices, the properties of the materials used are extremely important, especially in the case of degradable materials, as the degradation time of an implant, for instance, should be sufficient for the material to support tissue regeneration.[10−13] The advantage of PHAs comes from (i) the possibility to produce them via enzymatic synthesis employing microorganisms and (ii) their complete biodegradability compared to other degradable polymers.[14] Polymers frequently used in medicine and tissue engineering are the previously mentioned PLA,[15] PCL,[16] PGA,[17] and a copolymer of PGA and PLA (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), Received: June 8, 2021 Accepted: September 29, 2021. Products made of PHA, in particular PHBV fibers, are most widely used in biomedical applications
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