Temperature-responsive polymers, are in a sol state at room temperature but gel state at body temperature.  Thermo-gelling polymers could potentially be injected into humans in the sol state and then undergo a sol-to-gel transition in situ. Such thermo-gelling polymers are very useful for injectable systems such as implantable biomaterials used in drug delivery and tissue engineering. A few biocompatible and biodegradable polymers composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and polyester including poly(lactic acid) (PLA) have been reported as typical temperature-responsive gelling systems. However, most of these hydrogels are mechanically weak, and the clinical use of them as implantable biomedical materials are limited. Recently, we succeeded in the synthesis of a thermo-gelling polymer based on star-shaped PEG and PLLA block copolymer (8-arms PEG-b-PLLA) exhibiting high mechanical strength in gel state. In this presentation, our recent results for biodegradable injectable polymers having such branched structures are reported.

Design of biodegradable injectable polymers exhibiting temperature-responsive sol-gel transition as biomedical materials

244th National Meeting (2012)

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