Photopolymerizable Porous Polyorganophosphazenes - Degradable Matrices for Tissue Engineering

Tamara Bernadette Aigner designed a set of biocompatible and biodegradable poly(organophosphazenes). In order to tailor their biological and chemical properties, she further modified these macromolecules by adding functional moieties via thiol-ene chemistry. The author used the same photochemistry for crosslinking to obtain a mechanically stable network. She further altered the degradation rate of the matrix as well as the mechanical properties by adding blending agents and created a porous matrix, which is necessary for cell invasion and communication, by a newly developed photocrosslinking particulate-leaching method. Thus, a modular hybrid system was established which is able to adapt to different microenvironments based upon tissue type.