Poly-l-Lactic Acid (PLLA)-Based Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine: A Review on Processing and Applications
1
Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, RU INSTM, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
2
ATeN Center, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Ángel Serrano-Aroca and Xiao Hu
Polymers 2022, 14(6), 1153; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14061153
Received: 20 January 2022
/
Revised: 2 March 2022
/
Accepted: 9 March 2022
/
Published: 14 March 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Biocompatible and Biodegradable Polymers and Their Composites)
Synthetic biopolymers are effective cues to replace damaged tissue in the tissue engineering (TE) field, both for in vitro and in vivo application. Among them, poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has been highlighted as a biomaterial with tunable mechanical properties and biodegradability that allows for the fabrication of porous scaffolds with different micro/nanostructures via various approaches. In this review, we discuss the structure of PLLA, its main properties, and the most recent advances in overcoming its hydrophobic, synthetic nature, which limits biological signaling and protein absorption. With this aim, PLLA-based scaffolds can be exposed to surface modification or combined with other biomaterials, such as natural or synthetic polymers and bioceramics. Further, various fabrication technologies, such as phase separation, electrospinning, and 3D printing, of PLLA-based scaffolds are scrutinized along with the in vitro and in vivo applications employed in various tissue repair strategies. Overall, this review focuses on the properties and applications of PLLA in the TE field, finally affording an insight into future directions and challenges to address an effective improvement of scaffold properties.
View Full-Text
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Capuana, E.; Lopresti, F.; Ceraulo, M.; La Carrubba, V. Poly-l-Lactic Acid (PLLA)-Based Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine: A Review on Processing and Applications. Polymers 2022, 14, 1153. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14061153
AMA Style
Capuana E, Lopresti F, Ceraulo M, La Carrubba V. Poly-l-Lactic Acid (PLLA)-Based Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine: A Review on Processing and Applications. Polymers. 2022; 14(6):1153. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14061153
Chicago/Turabian StyleCapuana, Elisa, Francesco Lopresti, Manuela Ceraulo, and Vincenzo La Carrubba. 2022. "Poly-l-Lactic Acid (PLLA)-Based Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine: A Review on Processing and Applications" Polymers 14, no. 6: 1153. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14061153
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
