The aim of this study was to design and synthesise thermoplastic biodegradable and
biocompatible polyurethanes for tissue engineering applications. A secondary aim was
to tailor a range of degradation rates of the polyurethanes to suit a broad spectrum of
tissue engineering applications.
Various factors were systematically investigated in order to provide a means of
controlling mechanical, thermal and degradation properties of the polyurethanes. The
factors investigated included variation of the hard segment percentage, the diisocyanate,
the soft segment macrodiol as well as the chain extender. Soft segment macrodiols were
synthesised for this study including a poly(γ-butyrolactone) macrodiol which has been
used to make biodegradable aliphatic poly(ester-urethane) for the first time. A novel
range of degradable chain extenders was also developed and has been reported.
The polymers were characterised using Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Instron
tensile testing, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Shore hardness. Cell
culture testing was performed as was a three-month degradation study which showed
the polyurethanes to be biocompatible and biodegradable respectively.
Selected materials were shown to be suitable for scaffold fabrication using Fused
Deposition Modelling (FDM), and the scaffolds made were further shown to support
primary fibroblast growth in vitro.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216543 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Moore, Timothy Graeme, tim.moore@csiro.au |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Timothy Graeme Moore |
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