In Vitro and In Vivo Degradation of Photo‐Crosslinked Poly(Trimethylene Carbonate‐co‐ε‐Caprolactone) Networks

Abstract

AbstractThree‐armed poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) and poly(trimethylene carbonate‐co‐Ɛ‐caprolactone) (P(TMC‐co‐ε‐CL)) macromers with molecular weights of approximately 30 kg mol−1 are synthesized by ring‐opening polymerization and subsequent functionalization with methacrylic anhydride. Networks are then prepared by photo‐crosslinking. To investigate the in vitro and in vivo degradation properties of these photo‐crosslinked networks and assess the effect of ε‐caprolactone content on the degradation properties, PTMC networks, and copolymer networks with two different TMC:ε‐CL ratios are prepared. PTMC networks degraded slowly, via an enzymatic surface erosion process, both in vitro and in vivo. Networks prepared from P(TMC‐co‐ε‐CL) macromers with a 74:26 ratio are found to degrade slowly as well, via a surface erosion process, albeit at a higher rate compared to PTMC networks. Increasing the ε‐CL content to a ratio of 52:48, resulted in a faster degradation. These networks lost their mechanical properties much sooner than the other networks. Thus, PTMC and P(TMC‐co‐ε‐CL) networks are interesting networks for tissue engineering purposes and the exact degradation properties can be tuned by varying the TMC:ε‐CL ratio, providing researchers with a tool to obtain copolymer networks with the desired degradation rate depending on the intended application.