Degradable poly(ester-ether) urethanes of improved surface calcium deposition developed as novel biomaterials

Abstract

Bones, which are considered as hard tissues, work as scaffold for human body. They provide physical support for muscles and protect intestinal organs. Percentage of hard tissues in human body depends on age, weight, and gender. Human skeleton consists of 206 connected bones. Therefore, it is natural that the hard-tissue damage such as fractures, osteoporosis, and congenital lack of bone may appear. The innovative way of bone healing is an application of so-called tissue scaffolds. There are many synthetic polymers used in this field, but polyurethanes play a great role in this field. It is due to the possibility to control their degradation rate and to tune their surface to improve the calcification process, required for proper bone regeneration. In this article, we described the fabrication of degradable poly(ester-ether)urethane materials, having different hard-segment content (28% or 47%). PEEURs-28HS and PEEURs-47HS materials were obtained by two-step polymerization method and characterized by mechanical properties, ability to undergo oxidative degradation and surface calcification. Performed studies indicated that the PEEURs-28HS material possessed suitable properties to be proposed as a material for possible application in the bone tissue engineering.