Control of Enzymatic Degradation of Microbial Polyesters by Plasma Modification

Abstract

The rate of enzymatic degradation of surface‐modified microbial polyesters, poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate] and poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyvalerate], was studied. The plasma treatments were carried out in a CF3H or O2 environment. It was found that the CF3H plasma‐treated polyesters exhibited significant retardation of enzymatic erosion because of the surface fluorocarbon groups induced by CF3H plasma. These surface fluorocarbon groups act as retardants on enzymatic degradation due to increased hydrophobicity and of the inactivity of enzymes. However, the increased surface hydrophilicity of polyesters induced by O2 plasma results in no significant acceleration of the enzymatic erosion, which may be due to the thin modified layer.

Surface Chemistry of Biodegradable Polymers for Drug Delivery Systems

“…The degradation rate of microbial polyesters was strongly affected by the surface wettability induced by plasma treatment because surface hydrophobicity causes the inactivity of enzyme. However, the surface hydrophilicity induced by a plasma oxidation did not show an effect on the enzymatic degradation …”

“…To investigate the effect of surface modification on the control of the enzymatic degradation of microbial polyesters, Lee et al carried out an experimental work using an extracellular PHB depolymerase from Alcaligenes faecalis T1 for the P(3HB) and P(3HB- co -3HV) films before and after CF 3 H- and O 2 -plasma treatments . The degradation of solution-cast films of P(3HB) and P(3HB- co -3HV) was carried out for a given time between 1 and 22 h at 37 °C in a 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer solution (pH 7.4) of an extracellular PHB depolymerase from A. faecalis T1 before and after CF 3 H- and O 2 -plasma treatments.…”

Surface Modification of Polyhydroxyalkanoates toward Enhancing Cell Compatibility and Antibacterial Activity

“…CF 3 H plasma‐treated PHB and PHBV films retarded the enzymatic erosion significantly, where the hydrophobic fluorocarbon groups acted as retardants to decrease the activity of enzymes. Meanwhile, O 2 plasma‐treated samples showed no significant acceleration of the enzymatic erosion either, since the thin modified layer would be removed at the very initial stage of degradation …”

Surface Modification Changes the Degradation Process and Degradation Product Pattern of Polylactide

“…To overcome this, a nondestructive single-step gas-phase surface modification technique has been developed for covalent surface modification of degradable polymers. − This method was applied for surface grafting of polylactide (PLA), polycaprolactone and other degradable materials with compounds such as N -vinyl pyrrolidone, acrylamide and maleic anhydride. Poly- l -lactide films grafted with N -vinyl pyrrolidone, acrylamide and acrylic acid (AA) showed faster degradation rate in terms of mechanical characteristics and mass loss, while retardation of enzymatic erosion was observed for microbial polyesters plasma treated with CF 3 H …”