Biomedical applications of environmental friendly poly-hydroxyalkanoates

Biological polyesters of hydroxyacids are known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). They have proved to be an al-ternative, environmentally friendly and attractive candidate for the replacement of petroleum-based plastics in many applications. Many bacteria synthesize these compounds as an intracellular carbon and energy compound usually under unbalanced growth conditions. Biodegradability and biocompatibility of different PHA has been studied in cell culture systems or in an animal host during the last few decades. Such investigations have pro-posed that PHA can be used as biomaterials for applications in conventional medical devices such as sutures, patches, meshes, implants, and tissue engineering scaffolds as well. Moreover, findings related to encapsulation capability and degradation kinetics of some PHA polymers has paved their way for development of controlled drug delivery systems. The present review discusses about bio-plastics, their characteristics, examines the key findings and recent advances highlighting the usage of bio-plastics in different medical devices. The patents concerning to PHA application in biomedical field have been also enlisted that will provide a brief overview of the status of research in bio-plastic. This would help medical researchers and practitioners to replace the syn-thetic plastics aids that are currently being used. Simultaneously, it could also prove to be a strong step in reduc-ing the plastic pollution that surged abruptly due to the COVID-19 medical waste. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biological polyesters of hydroxyacids, considered as environmentally friendly alternatives to petroleum-based plastics, with biodegradability and biocompatibility. Research on different PHA in cell culture systems or animal hosts in recent years has shown their potential for applications in medical devices.