Scaffold composed of porous vancomycin-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres: A controlled-release drug delivery system with shape-memory effect.

Loading antibiotics in a biodegradable polymer matrix is an excellent way to control its release kinetics, which eliminates side effects caused by conventional administrations of the drug. This approach is especially beneficial for bone regeneration when using a scaffold made of a biodegradable polymer loaded with drug agents capable of controllable releases. In this case, the scaffold serves as a mechanical support to tissue formation and the drug agents may provide biomolecules to assist the tissue formation and/or provide antibiotics to prevent tissues from infections. Towards this goal, we have developed an approach to make vancomycin-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres, from which we made scaffolds by compression molding. In this article we concentrate on characterizing the porosity and drug release profiles, as well as verifying shape-memory effect of the scaffolds. The scaffold was biodegradable and showed a much slower drug release profile than microspheres. We confirmed that our PLGA scaffolds recovered to their permanent shapes when heated to 45°C. We believe that these scaffolds will find applications in bone regeneration where both the use of antibiotics against infection and accommodation to spatial restrictions may be required.