Abstract
Poly(L-lactic) acid (PLLA) is among the most promising polymers for bone fixation, repair, and tissue engineering due to its biodegradability and relatively good mechanical strength. Despite these beneficial characteristics, its poor bioactivity often requires incorporation of bioactive ceramic materials. A bioresorbable composite made of PLLA and hydroxyapatite (HA) may improve biocompatibility but typically causes deterioration in mechanical properties, and bioactive coatings inevitably carry a risk of coating delamination. Therefore, in this study, we embedded micropatterned HA on the surface of PLLA to improve bioactivity while eliminating the risk of HA delamination. An HA pattern was successfully embedded in a PLLA matrix without degeneration of the matrix’s mechanical properties, thanks to a transfer technique involving conversion of Mg to HA. Furthermore, patterned HA/PLLA’s biological response outperformed that of pure PLLA. These results confirm patterned HA/PLLA as a candidate for wide acceptance in biodegradable load-bearing implant applications.
Highlights
Biodegradable polymers that can be resorbed in the body have been intensively investigated given their elimination of the need for a second surgery after the function of the implant has been fulfilled [1,2]
Patterning was applied only on the surface, so Patterned HA/poly(L-lactic) acid (PLLA) was successfully developed through photo-lithography in conjunction it enabled the modification of surface-dependent properties, such as cell attachment and proliferation, with Mg deposition and HA conversion on a patterned wafer
Patterning was applied only on the while matrix-dependent properties such as mechanical strength and elastic modulus were maintained. Surface, so it enabled the modification of surface-dependent properties, such as cell attachment and Patterned HA/PLLA exhibited better cellular responses than pure PLLA, implying cell affinity could proliferation, while matrix-dependent properties such as mechanical strength and elastic modulus be effectively modulated by HA patterning
Summary
Biodegradable polymers that can be resorbed in the body have been intensively investigated given their elimination of the need for a second surgery after the function of the implant has been fulfilled [1,2]. Poly(L-lactic) acid (PLLA) is considered among the most desirable for fracture fixation, repair, and tissue engineering due to its relatively high mechanical strength [3,4,5]. Its poor bioactivity [9,10] often requires incorporation of bioactive ceramic, restricting the active clinical use of PLLA [11]. The incorporation of HA particles into the PLLA matrix neutralizes the degraded acidic monomers, and increases tissue compatibility due to the compositional similarity between HA and hard tissue [14,15]. The interface between the PLLA matrix and HA particles often weakens the overall strength of the composite owing to their low mutual affinity, limiting this combination’s application in Polymers 2020, 12, 2390; doi:10.3390/polym12102390 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers
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