Abstract
Synthetic biopolymers are effective cues to replace damaged tissue in the tissue engineering (TE) field, both for in vitro and in vivo application. Among them, poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has been highlighted as a biomaterial with tunable mechanical properties and biodegradability that allows for the fabrication of porous scaffolds with different micro/nanostructures via various approaches. In this review, we discuss the structure of PLLA, its main properties, and the most recent advances in overcoming its hydrophobic, synthetic nature, which limits biological signaling and protein absorption. With this aim, PLLA-based scaffolds can be exposed to surface modification or combined with other biomaterials, such as natural or synthetic polymers and bioceramics. Further, various fabrication technologies, such as phase separation, electrospinning, and 3D printing, of PLLA-based scaffolds are scrutinized along with the in vitro and in vivo applications employed in various tissue repair strategies. Overall, this review focuses on the properties and applications of PLLA in the TE field, finally affording an insight into future directions and challenges to address an effective improvement of scaffold properties.
Highlights
Tissue engineering (TE) is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses life sciences and engineering to develop biological substitutes that replace, repair, and improve the functions of tissues [1–3]
The results revealed that BG/poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) composite scaffolds enhanced the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of MC3T3-E1 cells and osteoconductive gene expression with a content-dependent behavior [24,89]
The use of PLLA in TE addresses some challenges related to the release of acidic byproducts and their accumulation, which can generate inflammatory conditions, negatively affecting tissue regeneration
Summary
Tissue engineering (TE) is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses life sciences and engineering to develop biological substitutes that replace, repair, and improve the functions of tissues [1–3]. Among the biodegradable polymers used for tissue engineering, poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) has been widely studied because of its interesting mechanical properties and tailorable biodegradability [9]. Several engineered systems have been investigated for this purpose, including natural materials such as gelatin [28], zein [29], bovine serum albumin (BSA) [30], kefiran [31,32] and chitosan [33] or synthetic polymers such as polycaprolactone (PCL) [34], poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) [35], and PLA [36]. For these therapeutic applications, a low rate of biodegradation is required [30,37], as observed for PLLA. Future challenges for improving PLLA-based scaffolding are suggested for new research
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