INVESTIGATION ON THE MECHANICAL, THERMAL, BIO-DEGRADATION, AND BIO-COMPATIBILITY PROPERTIES OF POLY (LACTIC ACID) / POLY (ETHYLENE GLYCOL) BLEND

Abstract

Absorbable sutures are widely used in surgery. In addition to acceptable mechanical properties, the surgical sutures should exhibit favorable degradability properties. In this research, the mechanical and thermal properties, hydrophilicity, biodegradability, pH changes, and drug release profile of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) alloy were examined to fabricate absorbable sutures. The test results for the mechanical properties showed that the strength of the PLA/PEG alloy decreased with increasing PEG content, leading to an increase in elongation. The differential thermal analysis indicated that the resulting material was above its glass transition temperature (Tg) at ambient temperature and was thus flexible enough. According to the degradation test results, the alloys were degraded similar to the commercial sample. Furthermore, the pH measurements revealed that the degradation of the alloy had no significant effect on the pH of the environment. Bupivacaine hydrochloride was incorporated into a certain amount of PLA and PEG, and the drug release rate was then measured. The sample provided a suitable substrate for burst release. Moreover, the cytotoxicity test was carried out to evaluate the biocompatibility properties of the PLA/PEG alloy and it was found that this alloy is biocompatible and the biocompatibility of the material decreases with increasing drug loading. ABSTRAK: Sutur boleh serap telah digunakan dalam pembedahan secara meluas. Tambahan kepada sifat-sifat mekanikal ini, sutur pembedahan perlu memiliki ciri-ciri kebolehurain yang dikehendaki. Dalam kajian ini, sifat-sifat mekanikal dan terma, kehidrofilikan, kebolehuraian, perubahan pH, dan profil penguraian ubat asid polilaktik (PLA) dan aloi polietilena glikol (PEG) telah dikaji bagi mencipta sutur boleh serap. Hasil kajian mendapati sifat-sifat mekanikal menunjukkan kekuatan PLA/PEG aloi berkurangan dengan penambahan level PEG, menyebabkan bertambahnya pemanjangan. Analisis pembezaan terma menunjukkan hasil bahan adalah melepasi suhu perubahan gelas (Tg) pada suhu sekitar dan oleh itu sangat lentur. Berdasarkan hasil kajian degradasi, aloi ini telah digradasi seperti sampel komersial. Tambahan lagi, ukuran pH menunjukkan degradasi aloi ini tidak menunjukkan kesan langsung pada pH persekitaran. Bupivacaine hidroklorida dimasukkan ke dalam PLA dan PEG, dan kadar ubat dibebaskan kemudiannya diukur. Sampel substrat yang bersesuian disediakan bagi pelepas letus. Tambahan, ujian Kesitotoksikan telah dijalankan bagi menilai ciri-ciri keserasian-bio aloi PLA/PEG dan didapati aloi ini serasi-bio dan keserasian-bio bahan berkurangan dengan penambahan beban ubat.