Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are bio-based microbial biopolyesters; their stiffness,\nelasticity, crystallinity and degradability are tunable by the monomeric composition, selection of\nmicrobial production strain, substrates, process parameters during production, and post-synthetic\nprocessing; they display biological alternatives for diverse technomers of petrochemical origin. This,\ntogether with the fact that their monomeric and oligomeric in vivo degradation products do not exert\nany toxic or elsewhere negative effect to living cells or tissue of humans or animals, makes them\nhighly stimulating for various applications in the medical field. This article provides an overview\nof PHA application in the therapeutic, surgical and tissue engineering area, and reviews strategies\nto produce PHA at purity levels high enough to be used in vivo. Tested applications of differently\ncomposed PHA and advanced follow-up products as carrier materials for controlled in vivo release of\nanti-cancer drugs or antibiotics, as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as guidance conduits for nerve\nrepair or as enhanced sutures, implants or meshes are discussed from both a biotechnological and\na material-scientific perspective. The article also describes the use of traditional processing techniques\nfor production of PHA-based medical devices, such as melt-spinning, melt extrusion, or solvent\nevaporation, and emerging processing techniques like 3D-printing, computer-aided wet-spinning,\nlaser perforation, and electrospinning.
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