Biopolymers in Medical Field

There is a wide range of application of biopolymers in medicine which include tissue engineering, wound healing, controlled release of drugs, post surgical treatments, etc. Their application in tissue engineering is mainly due to certain desirable qualities such as suitable surface morphology, mechanical properties, ease in processability and tailorability, degradability, etc. In the field of wound healing the traditional, less effective methods are being replaced by the use of biopolymeric scaffolds which are based on naturally occurring hyaluronic acid thus making it highly biocompatible. Similarly in the area of controlled release of drugs, for beneficial effects to occur, biopolymers are being employed in the form of gels which has yielded desirable results. Also for effective administration of hydrophobic drugs, biopolymers are used as an encapsulation to aid its proper dispersal. The traditional suturing materials require to be removed as they are not degradable or easily accepted by body cells. So to overcome these limitations biopolymeric materials especially shape memory polymers are used. They are very simple to use and make it possible