Biocompatibility of biodegradable medical polymers

Biomaterials have various applications in the medical field; whilst biodegradable biomaterials play an important role in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and drug delivery. In addition to conversional biocompatibility, biodegradable materials have to meet additional requirements to cover the biocompatibility of bulk materials, the degraded by-products duration of their presence in vivo and the dynamic integrity for the target applications. Chemical compatibility is the primary requisite. The bulk materials, as well as their degraded products have to be compatible with the biological environment; whilst the importance of the mechanical compatibility, which refers to matching the dynamic request of scaffolds in tissue regeneration is attracting more attention for new material development. This chapter highlights the principle of biocompatibility of biodegradable materials. Interactions between degradable polymers and biological systems have been discussed, from which the design principles to ensure biocompatibility for medical applications for biomaterials have been emphasized.