Annually, over two million bone-graft surgeries are performed around the world to reconstruct diseased and damaged bones that emerged from traumatic injuries, neoplasms, and infectious diseases. The most common bone graft procedures include autografts and allografts. Although autografts are the gold standard for treating bone loss, limitations include donor site morbidity, pain, and the inability to harvest large tissue volumes. As for allografts, there is the risk of disease transmission and the possibility of immune rejection. To address these issues, different biodegradable polymers were developed for bone repair and regeneration. Polyphosphazenes, as a unique class of inorganic-organic polymers, have gained significant attention for tissue regeneration due to their near-neutral degradation products and overall biocompatibility. In this research, a series of polyphosphazenes and polyphosphazene blends with poly (lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLAGA) were investigated to meet the needs in bone regeneration. Among the different materials developed and tested, one of the polyphosphazenes and PLAGA blend materials showed exceptional osteocompatibility, as well as unique degradation behaviors of pore-formation <i>in situ</i>. This ability may facilitate oxygen and nutrient exchange during the regeneration of bone tissue.

Biodegradable polyphosphazenes and polyphosphazene blends as bone regeneration materials

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.