Abstract
The objective of this work was to develop and study newbiodegradable thermoplastics with improvedmechanical properties for potential use as temporary implantable biomaterials. Linear poloxamer and star-shaped poloxamine have been used as macroinitiators for the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of lactide to yield high molecular weight PLA-based thermoplastic block copolymers. The influence of the nature of the macroinitiator, PLA crystallinity and initial molecular weight on the copolymers properties was investigated by performing a 7-week degradation test in PBS. The evaluation of water uptakes and molecular weights during the degradation pointed out an early hydrolytic degradation of the 100-kg∙mol−1 copolymers compared to the 200-kg∙mol−1 ones (molecular weight decrease of ca. 40% and 20%, respectively). A dramatic loss of tensile mechanical properties was also observed for the 100-kg∙mol−1 copolymers, whereas the 200-kg∙mol−1 copolymers showed stable or even slightly improved properties with Young's moduli around 500 MPa and yield strains around 3% to 4%. Finally, the cytocompatibility of the more stable 200 kg∙mol−1 copolymers was confirmed by murine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) culture.