(190e) A Novel Injectable Polymeric Biomaterial Poly(Propylene Fumarate-Co-Caprolactone) with Controllable Properties for Bone and Nerve Regenerations

One novel copolymer poly(propylene fumarate-co-caprolactone) (PPF-co-PCL) with 15 compositions has been invented to obtain controllable physical properties for various needs in tissue engineering, particularly, bone and nerve regenerations. The physical properties of the copolymers have been extensively investigated and an important characteristic temperature T_g, i.e., glass transition temperature decreases progressively with increasing the PCL composition in the copolymer. The biodegradation rate and mechanical properties can therefore be well modulated by the different molecular structure, copolymer composition, and crosslinking density. The crosslinking characteristics and biodegradation of PPF-co-PCL copolymers using both chemical crosslinking and photo-crosslinking methods have been investigated in detail. We demonstrate the biological evaluations of PPF-co-PCL copolymers with different compositions in order to explore their bone and nerve tissue engineering applications. As well in vitro as in vivo results showed that PPF-co-PCL has promising characteristics for biomedical applications because it has high cell viability and supports cell attachment and proliferation when the surface has sufficient rigidity, which could be modulated by either copolymer composition or crosslinking density. PPF-co-PCL scaffolds including nerve guide conduits have been fabricated using various techniques such as sterolithography. Furthermore, the shape-memory effect has been revealed when the composition of PCL is high enough to show the crystallinity in the copolymers.