Abstract:

Objective:An ideal guided tissue regeneration membrane (GTRm) should possesses good biocompatibility, adequate me- chanical strength and biodegradability. Polyhydroxybutyrate(PHB) is a biodegradable hermopolymer that composed by microorgan- isms. The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of using PHB membrane for guided tissue regeneration.Methods: PHB membrane was prepared by solvent-casting techniques and its physical and chemical properties were examined. Biodegrad- ability and biocompatibility of PHB membranes were inspected by embedding PHB membranes into dogs for 1 week, 1, 2, and 3 months. The scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) was used to evaluated biodegradability of PHB membranes, and biocompatibility of PHB membranes was tested by detecting local tissue response with light microscopy (LM).Results: (1)The extension strength and the elongation of fracture of PHB membraneswere 2812 MPa and 113% respectively. (2)The morphologic observation of PHB membranes at different terms showed that the surface turned rough because PHB membranes had been biodegraded gradually. (3) The capsule surrounding PHB membrane wasmainly consisted of fibrocytes and few lymphocytes. The longerwe observed, the thi- nner the capsule enveloping PHB membrane formed.Conclusion: PHB membranes possess satisfactory mechanical properties, bio- compatibility and, can be biodegraded slowly in vivo. PHB membranes could be therefore applied as a biological material for GTR.

Key words: polyhydroxybutyrate（PHB）, guided tissue regeneration membrane（GTRm）, biodegradation, biocompatibility