Abstract Biodegradable plastics have been widely used in medical fields such as sutures, tissue engineering scaffolds, and drug delivery carriers due to their excellent biocompatibility and degradability. Investigating the degradation behavior and concomitant changes in physicochemical properties of these polymers in simulated physiological environments is of critical importance. We performed in vitro degradation assays under multiple simulated conditions, to evaluate the degradation profiles of five representative polyesters: polycaprolactone (PCL), poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), polybutylene succinate (PBS), poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) (PBAT), and poly (butylene terephthalate-co-caprolactone) (PBTCL). Results indicate that these polymers degrade most rapidly in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF), followed by simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated body fluid (SBF); surface corrosion degradation mechanisms are observed in SIF and SGF, while bulk degradation is observed in SBF. Among these, PCL achieved a weight loss of 87 % after 18 weeks in SIF, demonstrating the fastest degradation rate, while in SBF with a similar pH value, it only reached 2 %. In the same SIF environment, the degradation rates of all polyesters, from fastest to slowest, are PCL, PBS, PHB, PBAT, and PBTCL. These findings provide vital theoretical insight and robust experimental data to underpin the safe deployment of biodegradable polymers in medical devices in vivo .
Zhang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.