Ascorbic Acid in Polyurethane Systems for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

The introduction of the paper was devoted to the main items of tissue engineering (TE) and the way of porous structure obtaining as scaffolds. Furthermore, the significant role of the scaffold design in TE was described. It was shown, that properly designed polyurethanes (PURs) find application in TE due to the proper physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties. Then the use of L-ascorbic acid (L-AA) in PUR systems for TE was described. L-AA has been applied in this area due to its suitable biological characteristics and antioxidative properties. Moreover, L-AA influences tissue regeneration due to improving collagen synthesis, which is a primary component of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Modification of PUR with L-AA leads to the materials with higher biocompatibility and such system is promising for TE applications.