Application of microbial polyesters-polyhydroxyalkanoates as tissue engineering materials

Poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx) has improved mechanical properties over the existing PHA and our results have shown that PHBHHx has better biocompatibility over polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polylactic acid (PLA). Surface treatment with upases dramatically changed the material surface properties and increased the biocompatibility of the PHBHHx. PHBHHx and its PHB blends had been used to make three dimensional structures and it has been found that cartilage, osteoblast, and fibroblasts all showed strong growth on the PHBHHx scaffolds. The growth was much better compared with PLA. The molecular studies also showed that mRNA encoding cartilages were strongly expressed when cartilage cells were grown on the PHBHHx. As PHBHHx has strong mechanical properties, easily processible and biodegradable, this material can be used to develop a new class of tissue engineering materials.