Polymeric Microspheres for Medical Applications

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Abstract

Synthetic polymeric microspheres find application in a wide range of medical applications. Among other applications, microspheres are being used as bulking agents, embolic- or drug-delivery particles. The exact composition of the spheres varies with the application and therefore a large array of materials has been used to produce microspheres. In this review, the relation between microsphere synthesis and application is discussed for a number of microspheres that are used for different treatment strategies.

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Most cited references 162

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On the mechanisms of biocompatibility.

David Williams (2008)

The manner in which a mutually acceptable co-existence of biomaterials and tissues is developed and sustained has been the focus of attention in biomaterials science for many years, and forms the foundation of the subject of biocompatibility. There are many ways in which materials and tissues can be brought into contact such that this co-existence may be compromised, and the search for biomaterials that are able to provide for the best performance in devices has been based upon the understanding of all the interactions within biocompatibility phenomena. Our understanding of the mechanisms of biocompatibility has been restricted whilst the focus of attention has been long-term implantable devices. In this paper, over 50 years of experience with such devices is analysed and it is shown that, in the vast majority of circumstances, the sole requirement for biocompatibility in a medical device intended for long-term contact with the tissues of the human body is that the material shall do no harm to those tissues, achieved through chemical and biological inertness. Rarely has an attempt to introduce biological activity into a biomaterial been clinically successful in these applications. This essay then turns its attention to the use of biomaterials in tissue engineering, sophisticated cell, drug and gene delivery systems and applications in biotechnology, and shows that here the need for specific and direct interactions between biomaterials and tissue components has become necessary, and with this a new paradigm for biocompatibility has emerged. It is believed that once the need for this change is recognised, so our understanding of the mechanisms of biocompatibility will markedly improve.

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Injectable hydrogels as unique biomedical materials.

Lin Yu, Jiandong Ding (2008)

A concentrated fish soup could be gelled in the winter and re-solled upon heating. In contrast, some synthetic copolymers exhibit an inverse sol-gel transition with spontaneous physical gelation upon heating instead of cooling. If the transition in water takes place below the body temperature and the chemicals are biocompatible and biodegradable, such gelling behavior makes the associated physical gels injectable biomaterials with unique applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering etc. Various therapeutic agents or cells can be entrapped in situ and form a depot merely by a syringe injection of their aqueous solutions at target sites with minimal invasiveness and pain. This tutorial review summarizes and comments on this soft matter, especially thermogelling poly(ethylene glycol)-(biodegradable polyester) block copolymers. The main types of injectable hydrogels are also briefly introduced, including both physical gels and chemical gels.

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The standardisation of terminology in lower urinary tract function: report from the standardisation sub-committee of the International Continence Society.

Paul Abrams, Linda Cardozo, Magnus Fall … (2003)

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Materials (Basel)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Materials (Basel)

Journal ID (publisher-id): materials

Title: Materials

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 1996-1944

Publication date (Electronic): 07 June 2010

Publication date Collection: June 2010

Volume: 3

Issue: 6

Pages: 3537-3564

Affiliations

Department of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands; E-Mails: l.koole@ 123456bioch.unimaas.nl (L.K.); menno.knetsch@ 123456bioch.unimaas.nl (M.K.)

Author notes

[* ]Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: k.saralidze@ 123456bioch.unimaas.nl ; Tel: +31 43 3881272; Fax: +31 43 3884159.

Article

Publisher ID: materials-03-03537

DOI: 10.3390/ma3063537

PMC ID: 5521755

SO-VID: bd8a8c27-5d14-4362-a98c-60c34aa40e87

License:

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an Open Access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Polymeric Microspheres for Medical Applications

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Abstract

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Electrospinning for biomedical applications

Most cited references 162

On the mechanisms of biocompatibility.

Injectable hydrogels as unique biomedical materials.

The standardisation of terminology in lower urinary tract function: report from the standardisation sub-committee of the International Continence Society.

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