Structure and properties of biocompatible poly(glycerol adipate) elastomers modified with ethylene glycol

Abstract

Polyesters poly(glycerol adipate)s or PGAs were prepared through a catalyst-free polycondensation reaction involving different proportions of adipic acid and glycerol. Additionally, another set of PGAs was formulated by adding ethylene glycol to the reaction mixture, creating three PGA-co-ethylene glycols of different ethylene glycol-to-glycerol ratios. All prepolymers were chemically crosslinked into elastomeric films according to specific experimental conditions. A full characterization of elastomers revealed an ease of tunability according to monomer ratios and curing conditions. Mechanical properties presented a variety of Young’s modulus values ranging from 0.07 to 8.33 MPa. Within this range, a number of Young’s modulus values of soft tissues can be included. Moreover, a cytotoxicity analysis performed on embryonic mouse fibroblasts (NIH/3T3) showed an absence of cytotoxicity and good adherence over all PGA and PGA-co-ethylene glycol elastomers. In addition, fibroblasts underwent a differentiation process into neuron-like cells, thus exhibiting excellent potential for soft tissue engineering. Poly(glycerol adipate) and poly(glycerol adipate)-co-ethylene glycol prepolymers are produced through catalyst-free polycondensation reaction. The resulting elastomers are products of crosslinking procedures and are fully characterized, showing an ease of final property tunability. Further cytotoxicity and adherence analyses based on mouse embryonic fibroblasts suggest their excellent potential for soft tissue engineering.