MOSCOW (MRC) -- There is a large demand for multifunctional biodegradable materials in biomedical applications that can mimic the properties of various tissues in the human body for efficient repair and regeneration, said Brigit-project.
A wide variety of natural and synthetic polymers are used for such applications. Although non-toxic, they may lack many desired characteristics such as mechanical and electrical properties with significant scope for improvement of their biological performance, said experts. Further, most of these materials are highly susceptible to bacterial colonisation and resultant infections, a major cause of implant failure.
To address these challenges, researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have now developed a synthetic polymer using nanotechnology, which could be used as substitute for bone grafting. The project was funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
According to Dr Sachin Kumar, who recently completed his PhD from the Biomaterial and Tissue Engineering Laboratory at IISc, while bone is one of the most widely transplanted tissues of the human body, bone grafts currently used in clinics have several problems like high costs, occasional infections and need for multiple surgeries. "We are working towards using plastics or synthetic polymers to solve this clinical challenge," he said.
Natural and synthetic polymers that are non-toxic degrade in the body over time to be absorbed or excreted safely; in the case of bone, these plastics may be too soft and lack other properties to help in regeneration, said experts. This prompted the team to explore methods that can enhance the biomedical properties of these polymers so that they could have orthopaedic applications.
Accordingly, the team prepared polymer composites of poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL), a biodegradable polyester incorporated with these nanoparticles. The lab found the resultant composite material to be "non-toxic as well as anti-bacterial". Cell studies showed that the composites were not toxic and supported the differentiation of stem cells to bone cells, making this material particularly useful for orthopaedic applications, said the research team.
According to the team, further research and trials need to be conducted before one can claim that this is a "perfect" artificial bone graft.
Besides being suitable for bone grafts, the composite was observed to have electrical conductivity as well. This property could make this material useful in designing biodegradable electronic components, which can be recycled.
As MRC informed earlier, the global bioplastics market is estimated to grow at a double-digit CAGR of 28.8% uptil 2020. The global bio-plastics market accounted for USD1.9 bln in 2014, and is expected to reach US$43.8 bln by 2020. The global bio-plastics market accounted for 0.1% to the global plastics market in 2014. Factors driving the growth of the global bio-plastics market include growing beverage packaging industry, rigid government policies about adopting bio-based materials, and rising consumer acceptance for bio-plastics.
MRC