Degradation mechanisms of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) films in vitro under static and dynamic environment

To understand their degradation mechanisms, PLGA (50:50) polymer films were prepared and eroded in the static and dynamic medium system. The degradation behavior was characterized through weight-average molecular weight change, mass loss, water uptake, etc. The results show that in dynamic system, significant mass loss begins until 10 d while mass loss does not begin until 30 d later, while weight-average molecular weight decreases observably at the beginning, and the appeasable mass loss happens in 20 d in static system, which suggests that the dynamic degradation rate is slower even than degradation in static medium. A mechanism was proposed that specimens in static medium take up water homogeneously and cause the polymer chains to degrade all over the specimen cross sections, which creates free carboxylic acid groups which lead to a decrease of pH value inside the swollen polymer and accelerate degradation of the polymer. While pH value inside polymer keeps constant in dynamic medium because of flowing of simulated medium, which make the hydrolytic cleavage of ester bonds inside specimen delayed.