Polycaprolactone as a biomaterial for the treatment of articular cartilage damage

Present surgical and repair treatments for articular cartilage abnormalities do not produce long-term results that are adequate due to its avascular and alymphatic system. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a synthetic polyester biomaterial with characteristics of bioresorbable, controlled biodegradation, nontoxic and excellent biocompatibility used for articular cartilage and subchondral bone regeneration. There are various therapeutic potentials for articular cartilage tissue regeneration methods, which have the access to fabricate the replicable biodegradable PCL-based 3D scaffold. Over the past years, natural polymer-based scaffold with poor mechanical properties fails to show significant success in preclinical trials, thereby, the mechanical properties of these scaffolds have been enhanced by combining with PCL and it also increases the stability of developed scaffolds. PCL is also being added with natural polymer to increase hydrophilicity and better cell attachment. PCL possesses both semicrystalline and hydrophobic properties ensuring long time support for the scaffold to degrade approximately 3-4 years thereby making it a suitable choice for bone and cartilage tissue engineering involving longterm implants. Some other vital properties of PCL like low melting point, ability to solubilize in organic solvents, heat molding, etc. can be channelized in a proper way to help in recovering the articular cartilage damages.