Synthetic biodegradable elastomers for drug delivery and tissue engineering

Abstract

Synthetic biodegradable elastomers are an emerging class of materials with many potential clinical applications including drug delivery and tissue engineering. Biodegradable elastomers offer advantages of structure diversity, tunable properties, and a wide range of processing capabilities. This review highlights some recent developments in various aspects of biodegradable materials synthesis, characterization, and processing with a specific focus on structure-processing–property relationships. Biodegradation mechanisms and issues regarding tissue biocompatibility of these materials are discussed. Applications of synthetic biodegradable elastomers, including use as a materials platform for controlled release systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, and engineered substrates for in vitro cell–biomaterials interactions will also be presented.