ABSTRACT
Biocompatible polymers can be defined as a material meant to interface traditional organic polymers with living systems to assess, deal, augment or substitute preconceived (or designed) tissues and organs [49, 167, 192]. Such biocompatible polymers may play a crucial role in human body, especially, when interfaced with biopolymers of many types of biomaterials for implementing diverse functional tissues and organs in living body. Based on their biocompatible properties, the biocompatible-biopolymers can be further classified into biocompatible and non compatible polymers, in addition to their degradation properties. In many typical applications, such as wound dressings and bandages, and implants such as vascular graft, bone fixing materials, bone substitution materials and dental materials, the biocompatible-biopolymers should provide biocompatibility with short or long term stabilities for consistent performances along with biodegradation property, as needed. For more than two decades, biologically derived natural biomaterials were significantly explored for their applications in controlled drug delivery, gene therapy, cell delivery, biomolecules delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative areas because of their biocompatibility and biodegradability [48, 162, 200]. Usually, biodegradation occurred through the temperature, chemical or structural deteriorations, and/or enzymatic reaction associated within human body. This type of degradations occurred in two steps; initially, polymers can be fragmented into lower molecular mass species by means of biotic (degradation by microorganisms) or abiotic reactions (oxidation, hydrolysis, and photo degradation), followed by bio-assimilations of microorganisms and their mineralization. Although, the degradation of biocompatible-biopolymers may not only depends upon the source of the biomaterials, but also based on its chemical compositions, their structures, methods of production, processing and storage conditions, and environmental factors (pH and temperature) [185].
