Biodegradable Polymeric Materials for Medicinal Applications

Biodegradable polymeric materials have emerged as a group of smart materials having immense applications. One of the promising applications of both synthetic and natural biodegradable polymers is in the medicinal field. The selection and fabrication of biodegradable polymers is a promising challenge as these materials must be compatible with the biological system and do not interfere with the proper functioning of the living body. The factors that must be accounted for the fabrications are the stability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and its cytotoxicity. The pledging applications of biodegradable materials in the medicinal applications are in drug delivery, orthopedics, dental applications, cardiac and intestinal applications, and in tissue engineering. The present chapter is focused on the general characteristics of biodegradable polymers, factors affecting the biodegradations, its mechanisms, and the important category of different degradable polymeric materials explored in biomedical applications.