Biomaterials have to satisfy a lot of requirements. Not only do they have to work in the body, they are often required to with the body. That is not a simple feat for most materials. This is especially true of materials designed to degrade over time. New advancements in the composition of biopolymers promise to enable a number of improvements in analysis and performance.
Putting a new spin on an old material is a great way to meet current and emerging demands. You get the tried and true history of the material in addition to a new boost performance. That is exactly what Jian Yang’s group at Penn State has been working on. According to a
Penn State News article
, the
Polylactones (including PLA), are among the most widely used biodegradable polymers. They can be applied in tissue engineering and implant fixation where natural tissue eventually replaces the polymer. As Yang describes it, “We are innovating this material by making it intrinsically photoluminescent without adding traditional photobleaching organic dyes or cytotoxic quantum dots. That was a challenge previously, but we've managed to do it now.”
The ability to light-up the polymer is important for a number of applications. It can be applied to nanoparticles functionalized to attach to cancerous tissue, for instance. The fluorescence is much easier to see than small tumors, so surgeons can more easily identify and remove cancer in its entirety. The material can be combined with magnetic nanoparticles as well to create a multifunctional indicator which can be detected through MRI or fluorescence microscopy.
In addition to cancer diagnostics, the biopolymer can be used in tissue engineering. Biodegradable polymers will eventually breakdown and be replaced by tissue, but tracking that process is not trivial. Designing polymers which degrade at a specific rate is necessary, and ensuring the material is decomposing successfully can be difficult in vivo . Because of the fluorescent signal, however, the degradation of the material can be tracked noninvasively. The change in signal intensity and character over time can also indicate both the rate of polymer decomposition and how quickly tissue is regenerating.
The group has more up their sleeves than fluorescence. They are also working on citrate-based materials which can improve bone growth during degradation as well as elastomeric scaffolding for soft tissue regeneration. Polymers are truly a versatile class of materials, and there are a whole host of applications awaiting innovative modifications and discoveries.
For more on the research, see the group’s website .
Image courtesy of Penn State News