Degradation of synthetic polymeric scaffolds for bone and cartilage tissue repairs

Degradation studies are reported with emphasis on polymeric scaffolds in which degradation occurs via ester bond cleavage. The temporal and structural consequences of polymer degradation on TE scaffolds in the absence and in the presence of biological components in vitro and in vivo are described and compared. Finally, the functional improvement of degradable polymeric scaffolds for TE via the formation of hybrid structures is presented.