In vivo behavior of trimethylene carbonate and ε-caprolactone-based (co)polymer networks: degradation and tissue response.

The in vivo erosion behavior of crosslinked (co)polymers based on trimethylene carbonate (TMC) and ε-caprolactone (CL) was investigated. High molecular weight poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) homopolymer- and copolymer films were crosslinked by gamma irradiation. To adjust the in vivo erosion rate of the (co)polymer films, both the irradiation dose (25, 50, or 100 kGy) for PTMC and composition (100-70 mol % TMC) at a constant irradiation dose of 25 kGy were varied. After subcutaneous implantation of irradiated films in rats, their in vivo behavior was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. When the irradiation dose for PTMC was increased from 25 to 100 kGy, the erosion rate of nonextracted PTMC films (determined at day 5) decreased from 39.7 ± 16.0 μm day(-1) to 15.1 ± 2.5 μm day(-1), and the number of lymphocytes in the tissue surrounding the films decreased from 235 ± 114 cells mm(-2) to 64 ± 33 cells mm(-2). The number of macrophages and giant cells at the tissue-polymer interface also decreased with increasing irradiation dose. All (co)polymer films eroded completely within 28 days of implantation. Variation of the TMC content of gamma irradiated (co)polymer films did not affect the tissue response to the gamma irradiated (co)polymer films and their in vivo erosion behavior much.