Biodegradability of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) and poly(l-lactic acid) after deep-ultraviolet femtosecond and nanosecond laser irradiation

In this study, we investigated the change in biodegradability of biodegradable polymer films by deep-ultraviolet laser irradiation with different pulse durations. Measurements of water absorption and mass change as well as microscopic observation revealed that the femtosecond laser irradiation significantly accelerated the degradation rate of the biodegradable polymer films, whereas the nanosecond laser irradiation did not induce a comparable degree of change. Analyses with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate that the difference in the biodegradability following laser irradiation with different pulse durations is attributable to the difference in chemical structure for amorphous polymers including PLGA, while the difference in chemical structure as well as crystallinity affects the biodegradability for crystalline polymer including PLLA. The obtained results suggest that deep-ultraviolet laser processing enables the fabrication of a tissue scaffold with a desirable degradation rate.