ABSTRACT
The term biodegradation is loosely associated with materials that could be broken down by nature either through hydrolytic mechanisms without the help of enzymes and/or enzymatic mechanism. Surgical implants made from biodegradable biomaterials could be used as a temporary scaffold for tissue regeneration. The largest biomedical application of biodegradable polymeric biomaterials that are commercially satisfactory is drug control/release devices. The glycolide-lactide random copolymers are the most studied and have a wide range of properties and applications, depending on the composition ratio of glycolide to lactide. A relatively new block copolymer of glycolide and carbonates, such as trimethylene carbonate, has been commercialized. The inherent more hydrolytic resistance of MPG must be attributed to the presence of an aromatic group in the backbone chains. All glycolide/lactide based linear aliphatic polyesters are based on poly(a-hydroxy acids). The degradation property of synthetic biodegradable polymers somehow relates to macrophage activation which subsequently leads to macrophage production of the required growth factors that initiate tissue regeneration.
