Synthesis of HMDI-based segmented polyurethanes and their use in the manufacture of elastomeric composites for cardiovascular applications

Release of bioactive peptides from polyurethane films in vitro and in vivo: Effect of polymer composition

Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) are widely used in biomedical applications due to their excellent biocompatibility. Their role as matrices for the delivery of small molecule therapeutics has been widely reported. However, very little is known about the release of bioactive peptides from this class of polymers. Here, we report the release of linear and cyclic peptides from TPUs with different hard and soft segments. Solvent casting of the TPU at room temperature mixed with the different peptides resulted in reproducible efflux profiles with no evidence of drug degradation. Peptide release was dependent on the size as well as the composition of the TPU. Tecoflex 80A (T80A) showed more extensive release than ElastEon 5-325, which correlated with a degree of hydration. It was also shown that the composition of the medium influenced the rate and extent of peptide efflux. Blending the different TPUs allowed for better control of peptide efflux, especially the initial burst effect. Peptide-loaded TPU prolonged the plasma levels of the anti-inflammatory cyclic peptide PMX53, which normally has a plasma half-life of less than 30min. Using a blend of T80A and E5-325, therapeutic plasma levels of PMX53 were observed up to 9days following a single intraperitoneal implantation of the drug-loaded film. PMX53 released from the blended TPUs significantly inhibited B16-F10 melanoma tumor growth in mice demonstrating its bioactivity in vivo. This study provides important findings for TPU-based therapeutic peptide delivery that could improve the pharmacological utility of peptides as therapeutics.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Therapeutic peptides can be highly specific and potent pharmacological agents, but are poorly absorbed and rapidly degraded in the body. This can be overcome by using a matrix that protects the peptide in vivo and promotes its slow release so that a therapeutic effect can be achieved over days or weeks. Thermoplastic polyurethanes are a versatile family of polymers that are biocompatible and used for medical implants. Here, the release of several peptides from a range of polyurethanes was shown to depend on the type of polymer used in the polyurethane. This is the first study to examine polyurethane blends for peptide delivery and shows that the rate and extent of peptide release can be fine-tuned using different hard and soft segment mixtures in the polymer.

Transport of Nitric Oxide (NO) in Various Biomedical grade Polyurethanes: Measurements and Modeling Impact on NO Release Properties of Medical Devices

Nitric oxide (NO) releasing polymers are promising in improving the biocompatibility of medical devices. Polyurethanes are commonly used to prepare/fabricate many devices (e.g., catheters); however, the transport properties of NO within different polyurethanes are less studied, creating a gap in the rational design of new NO releasing devices involving polyurethane materials. Herein, we study the diffusion and partitioning of NO in different biomedical polyurethanes via the time-lag method. The diffusion of NO is positively correlated with the PDMS content within the polyurethanes, which can be rationalized by effective media theory considering various microphase morphologies. Using catheters as a model device, the effect of these transport properties on the NO release profiles and the distribution around an asymmetric dual lumen catheter are simulated using finite element analysis and validated experimentally. This method can be readily applied in studying other NO release medical devices with different configurations.

Estimation of activation energy from the survival yields: fragmentation study of leucine enkephalin and polyethers by tandem mass spectrometry

A simple collision model for multiple collisions occurring in quadrupole type mass spectrometers was derived and tested with leucine enkaphalin a common mass spectrometric standard with well-characterized properties. Implementation of the collision model and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) algorithm into a spreadsheet software allowed a good fitting of the calculated data to the experimental survival yield (SY) versus collision energy curve. In addition, fitting also ensured to estimate the efficiencies of the kinetic to internal energy conversion for Leucine enkephalin in quadrupole-time-of-flight and triple quadrupole instruments. It was observed that the experimental SY versus collision energy curves for the leucine enkephalin can be described by the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel (RRK) formalism by reducing the total degrees of freedom (DOF) to about one-fifth. Furthermore, this collision model with the RRK formalism was used to estimate the critical energy (E(o)) of lithiated polyethers, including polyethylene glycol (PEG), polypropylene glycol (PPG), and polytetrahydrofurane (PTHF) with degrees of freedom similar to that of leucine enkephalin. Applying polyethers with similar DOF provided the elimination of the effect of DOF on the unimolecular reaction rate constant. The estimated value of E(o) for PEG showed a relatively good agreement with the value calculated by high-level quantum chemical calculations reported in the literature. Interestingly, it was also found that the E(o) values for the studied polyethers were similar.

Studies on the cycling, processing and programming of an industrially applicable shape memory polymer Tecoflex® (or TFX EG 72D)

The present investigations were undertaken to find out whether and how often cycling, processing and programming can be repeated, whether repeated programming affects the one way effect and how much irreversible strain the shape memory polymeric material accumulates at a particular temperature. The effect was investigated in dependence of different stress levels, and the effect of both recovery temperature and recovery time was considered. As a model material the commercially and industrially applicable amorphous shape memory polymer Tecoflex® was examined and subjected to 50 programming cycles. Tecoflex® is characterized by a glass transition temperature, Tg, of 74 °C, above which it looses all its strength. During tensile testing at 20 °C (T < Tg), stresses a steady increase to 26 MPa as strains approached the rupture strain of 25%. It is observed that at 60 °C (T < Tg, but near Tg) the material can be strained to more than 2500% before rupture occurs while stresses slowly increase to values less than 0.3 MPa. It turns out that programming, cooling, unloading and heating to trigger the one way effect causes an increase of irreversible strain that is associated with a corresponding decrease of the intensity of the one way effect during the first thermomechanical cycles.

Shape-Memory Properties of Radiopaque Micro-Composites from Amorphous Polyether Urethanes Designed for Medical Application

Biocompatible shape-memory polymers are of high significance for application in medical devices or instruments for minimally invasive surgery. To follow the medical device placement or changes in shape of the device in vivo by imaging methods like X-ray techniques, radiopacity of the polymer is required. In this work, we explored the shape-memory properties of radiopaque polymer composites prepared by incorporation of barium sulphate micro-particles in a biomedical grade polyether urethane (PEU) by co-extrusion technique. The filler content was varied from 5 wt% to 40 wt%, which was confirmed by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements, while the particle distribution was visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated by means of dynamic mechanical analysis at varied temperature (DMTA) and tensile tests. The shape-memory properties of PEU composites were quantified in cyclic, thermomechanical experiments. A significant increase in Young’s modulus and a decrease in elongation at break were observed for PEU composites with increasing content of BaSO4, while the DMTA results were not affected by incorporation of the fillers. All samples exhibited excellent shape-memory properties with shape fixity rates (Rf) above 98% and values for shape recovery rate (Rr) in the range of 81% to 93%. The maximum stress (σmax) obtained under constant strain recovery conditions increased from 0.6 MPa to 1.4 MPa with raising amount of BaSO4, while the corresponding temperature (Tσ,max) as well as the switching temperature (Tsw) determined under stress-free conditions remained constant for all polymer composites.

Functional Fatigue of Shape-Memory Polymers

The present study represents a first step towards an understanding of what we refer to as the functional fatigue behaviour of shape-memory polymers. These materials have a processing shape B and a programmed shape A [1]. And when the material is exposed to an appropriate stimulus (in our case: heating above a critical temperature), a one way effect is observed: A → B (one way effect: 1WE). The objectives of the present study were to find out whether and how often programming can be repeated, whether repeated programming affects the 1WE and how much irreversible strain the material accumulates. We study the effect in dependence of different stress levels, and consider the effect of recovery temperature and recovery time. As a model material we examine the commercial amorphous shape-memory polymer Tecoflex® and subject it to 50 programming/1WE cycles. It turns out that programming, cooling, unloading and heating to trigger the 1WE causes an increase of irreversible strain and is associated with a corresponding decrease of the intensity of the 1WE in particular during the first thermomechanical cycles. 1. M. Behl and A. Lendlein, materials today 10, 20 (2007).

Energy-dependent collision-induced dissociation of lithiated polytetrahydrofuran: effect of the size on the fragmentation properties

The fragmentation properties of singly and doubly lithiated polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) were studied using energy-dependent collision-induced dissociation. The product ion spectrum of [PTHF + Li](+) showed the formation of three different series corresponding to product ions with hydroxyl, aldehyde and vinyl end-groups. Interestingly, besides these series, two additional, non-lithiated product ions C(4)H(9)O(+) and C(4)H(7)(+) were identified in the MS/MS spectra. The MS/MS of the doubly lithiated PTHF ([PTHF + 2Li](2+)) with a number of repeat units ranging from 8 to 27 showed the formation of product ions similar to those of the singly lithiated series, however, doubly lithiated product ions and product ions formed by the loss of one Li(+)-ion from the precursor ion also appeared with significant abundances. Analysis of the breakdown curves for the singly and doubly charged PTHF indicated that the series A ions are formed most probably together with the series B ions, while members of the series C ions appeared at significantly higher collision energies. The fragmentation properties of [PTHF + Li](+) and [PTHF + 2Li](2+) were also interpreted using the survival yield method. It was found that the collision energy/voltage necessary to obtain 50% fragmentation (CV(50)) was dependent linearly on the number of the repeat units, i.e., on the size, or the number of degrees of freedom (DOF).

Degradation studies on segmented polyurethanes prepared with HMDI, PCL and different chain extenders

Biodegradable segmented polyurethanes (BSPUs) were prepared with poly(caprolactone) as a soft segment, 4,4'-methylene bis (cyclohexyl isocyanate) and either butanediol (BSPU1) or dithioerythritol (BSPU2) as a chain extender. BSPU samples were characterized in terms of their physicochemical properties and their hemocompatibility. Polymers were then degraded in acidic (HCl 2N), alkaline (NaOH 5M) and oxidative (H(2)O(2) 30wt.%) media and characterized by their mass loss, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Undegraded BSPU1 and BSPU2 exhibited different properties, such as the glass transition temperature T(g) of the soft segment (-25 vs. 4 degrees C), mechanical properties (600% vs. 900% strain to break) and blood coagulating properties (clotting time=11.46 vs. 8.13min). After acidic and alkaline degradation, the disappearance of the 1728cm(-1) band of polycaprolactone (PCL) on both types of BSPU was detected by FTIR. However, the oxidative environment did not affect the soft segment severely as the presence of PCL crystalline domains were observed both by DSC (melting temperature T(m)=52.8 degrees C) and XRD (2theta=21.3 degrees and 23.7 degrees ). By TGA three decomposition temperatures were recorded for both BSPU samples, but the higher decomposition temperature was enhanced after acidic and alkaline degradation. The formation of the porous structure on BSPU1 was observed by SEM, while a granular surface was observed on BSPU2 after alkaline degradation.