In vitro degradation behaviour of non-porous ultra-fine poly(glycolic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) fibres and porous ultra-fine poly(glycolic acid) fibres

The in vitro degradation behaviour of non-porous ultra-fine poly(glycolic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) (PGA/PLA) fibres and porous ultra-fine PGA fibres was investigated. The non-porous ultra-fine PGA/PLA fibres were prepared by electrospinning of a PGA/PLA solution in 1, 1, 1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol and the porous ultra-fine PGA fibres were obtained from them via selective removal of PLA with chloroform. Since PLA has a lower degradation rate than PGA, the degradation rates of the ultra-fine PGA/PLA fibres decreased with increasing content of PLA. The porous ultra-fine PGA fibres were degraded in vitro in the order of non-porous PGA > P-PGA/PLA(90/10) > P-PGA/PLA(70/30) > P-PGA/PLA(50/50) > P-PGA/PLA(30/70) due to autocatalytic hydrolysis. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.