Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) has attracted considerable interest as a base material for biomedical applications due to its: (i) biocompatibility; (ii) tailored biodegradation rate (depending on the molecular weight and copolymer ratio); (iii) approval for clinical use in humans by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); (iv) potential to modify surface properties to provide better interaction with biological materials; and (v) suitability for export to countries and cultures where implantation of animal-derived products is unpopular. This paper critically reviews the scientific challenge of manufacturing PLGA-based materials with suitable properties and shapes for specific biomedical applications, with special emphasis on bone tissue engineering. The analysis of the state of the art in the field reveals the presence of current innovative techniques for scaffolds and material manufacturing that are currently opening the way to prepare biomimetic PLGA substrates able to modulate cell interaction for improved substitution, restoration, or enhancement of bone tissue function.

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An Overview of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) Acid (PLGA)-Based Biomaterials for Bone Tissue Engineering

3D bioactive composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Advancing biomaterials of human origin for tissue engineering

The use of bone grafts is the standard to treat skeletal fractures, or to replace and regenerate lost bone, as demonstrated by the large number of bone graft procedures performed worldwide. The most common of these is the autograft, however, its use can lead to complications such as pain, infection, scarring, blood loss, and donor-site morbidity. The alternative is allografts, but they lack the osteoactive capacity of autografts and carry the risk of carrying infectious agents or immune rejection. Other approaches, such as the bone graft substitutes, have focused on improving the efficacy of bone grafts or other scaffolds by incorporating bone progenitor cells and growth factors to stimulate cells. An ideal bone graft or scaffold should be made of biomaterials that imitate the structure and properties of natural bone ECM, include osteoprogenitor cells and provide all the necessary environmental cues found in natural bone. However, creating living tissue constructs that are structurally, functionally and mechanically comparable to the natural bone has been a challenge so far. This focus of this review is on the evolution of these scaffolds as bone graft substitutes in the process of recreating the bone tissue microenvironment, including biochemical and biophysical cues.

Scaffold Design for Bone Regeneration

In the last half-century, the development of biodegradable polymeric materials for biomedical applications has advanced significantly. Biodegradable polymeric materials are favored in the development of therapeutic devices, including temporary implants and three-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering. Further advancements have occurred in the utilization of biodegradable polymeric materials for pharmacological applications such as delivery vehicles for controlled/sustained drug release. These applications require particular physicochemical, biological, and degradation properties of the materials to deliver effective therapy. As a result, a wide range of natural or synthetic polymers able to undergo hydrolytic or enzymatic degradation is being studied for biomedical applications. This review outlines the current development of biodegradable natural and synthetic polymeric materials for various biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, temporary implants, wound healing, and drug delivery.

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Current development of biodegradable polymeric materials for biomedical applications

Porous scaffolds fabricated from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers play vital roles in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Among various scaffold matrix materials, poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) is a very popular and an important biodegradable polyester owing to its tunable degradation rates, good mechanical properties and processibility, etc. This review highlights the progress on PLGA scaffolds. In the latest decade, some facile fabrication approaches at room temperature were put forward; more appropriate pore structures were designed and achieved; the mechanical properties were investigated both for dry and wet scaffolds; a long time biodegradation of the PLGA scaffold was observed and a three-stage model was established; even the effects of pore size and porosity on in vitro biodegradation were revealed; the PLGA scaffolds have also been implanted into animals, and some tissues have been regenerated in vivo after loading cells including stem cells.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsfs.2011.0123

Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) porous scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Control of cell nucleus shapes via micropillar patterns.

Bilayered porous scaffolds have recently attracted interest because of their considerable promise for repairing osteochondral defects. However, determination of optimal pore size in bilayered porous scaffolds remains an important issue. This study investigated the in vivo effects of pore size in bilayered scaffolds using a rabbit model of osteochondral defects. We fabricated five types of integrated bilayered poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) scaffolds with different pore sizes in the chondral and osseous layers (50–100 µm, 100–200 µm, 200–300 µm, and 300–450 µm). A subset of bilayered scaffolds seeded with or without allogenic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) was implanted in rabbit osteochondral defects. All of the cell/scaffold composite constructs supported the simultaneous regeneration of articular cartilage and subchondral bone, but the best results were observed in cell-seeded PLGA scaffolds with 100–200 µm pores in the chondral layer and 300–450 µm pores in the osseous layer. Our study supports the concept that the effects of pore size on osteochondral repair should be taken into consideration during scaffold design for tissue engineering. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 180–192, 2014.

The effects of pore size in bilayered poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffolds on restoring osteochondral defects in rabbits.

Poly(lactide-co-glycolide)-bilayered scaffolds with the same porosity or different ones on the two layers were fabricated, and the porosity effect on in vivo repairing of the osteochondral defect was examined in a comparative way for the first time. The constructs of scaffolds and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells were implanted into pre-created osteochondral defects in the femoral condyle of New Zealand white rabbits. After 12 weeks, all experimental groups exhibited good cartilage repairing according to macroscopic appearance, cross-section view, haematoxylin and eosin staining, toluidine blue staining, immunohistochemical staining and real-time polymerase chain reaction of characteristic genes. The group of 92% porosity in the cartilage layer and 77% porosity in the bone layer resulted in the best efficacy, which was understood by more biomechanical mimicking of the natural cartilage and subchondral bone. This study illustrates unambiguously that cartilage tissue engineering allows for a wide range of scaffold porosity, yet some porosity group is optimal. It is also revealed that the biomechanical matching with the natural composite tissue should be taken into consideration in the design of practical biomaterials, which is especially important for porosities of a multi-compartment scaffold concerning connected tissues.

Effect of porosities of bilayered porous scaffolds on spontaneous osteochondral repair in cartilage tissue engineering

Purpose Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is excellent as a scaffolding matrix due to feasibility of processing and tunable biodegradability, yet the virgin scaffolds lack osteoconduction and osteoinduction. In this study, nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) was coated on the interior surfaces of PLGA scaffolds in order to facilitate in vivo bone defect restoration using biomimetic ceramics while keeping the polyester skeleton of the scaffolds. Methods PLGA porous scaffolds were prepared and surface modification was carried out by incubation in modified simulated body fluids. The nHA coated PLGA scaffolds were compared to the virgin PLGA scaffolds both in vitro and in vivo. Viability and proliferation rate of bone marrow stromal cells of rabbits were examined. The constructs of scaffolds and autogenous bone marrow stromal cells were implanted into the segmental bone defect in the rabbit model, and the bone regeneration effects were observed. Results In contrast to the relative smooth pore surface of the virgin PLGA scaffold, a biomimetic hierarchical nanostructure was found on the surface of the interior pores of the nHA coated PLGA scaffolds by scanning electron microscopy. Both the viability and proliferation rate of the cells seeded in nHA coated PLGA scaffolds were higher than those in PLGA scaffolds. For bone defect repairing, the radius defects had, after 12 weeks implantation of nHA coated PLGA scaffolds, completely recuperated with significantly better bone formation than in the group of virgin PLGA scaffolds, as shown by X-ray, Micro-computerized tomography and histological examinations. Conclusion nHA coating on the interior pore surfaces can significantly improve the bioactivity of PLGA porous scaffolds.

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Enhancing the bioactivity of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffold with a nano-hydroxyapatite coating for the treatment of segmental bone defect in a rabbit model.

Zhen Pan

Papers

Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) porous scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Control of cell nucleus shapes via micropillar patterns.

The effects of pore size in bilayered poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffolds on restoring osteochondral defects in rabbits.

Effect of porosities of bilayered porous scaffolds on spontaneous osteochondral repair in cartilage tissue engineering

Enhancing the bioactivity of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffold with a nano-hydroxyapatite coating for the treatment of segmental bone defect in a rabbit model.