Biodegradation and thermal stability of bacterial cellulose as biomaterial: The relevance in biomedical applications

Abstract Biodegradable polymeric biomaterial plays a vital role in therapeutic medicine and in the various discipline of biomedical science involving biomaterials. Bacterial cellulose (BC) have attracted much interest in industrial and academic research over the years as a biodegradable biopolymer. In this perspective, we looked at biodegradation of polymeric biomaterials in general, and specifically the factors and mechanisms of BC biodegradation as biomaterial. Also attempt to explore the most recent research advancement in the application of BC in terms of its biodegradability and thermal stability in biomedical science. The medical applications of BC as a biomaterial span a wide range of topics including; hard tissue engineering (bone and dental), wound dressing and skin regeneration, artificial dura mater membrane, facial nerve regeneration, prosthetic hernioplasty, soft tissue reconstruction, diagnosis of cancer, drug delivery, tissue-engineered cornea stroma, neuroendovascular application, and so on. The variation in its application implies material with different properties in terms of degradation and stability. We have identified crystallinity, molecular weight, hydrophilicity and modification strategy as the four main factors which could affect the biodegradation of BC-based material in physiological environment. In terms of in vivo degradation of BC, four main proposed mechanisms were identified, these includes; hydrolysis, enzymatic, oxidation and physical mechanism, which occurs in a tandem. Furthermore, the thermal stability of BC and its relevance in biomedical application have been explained. It was shown in previous studies that, pure BC can thermally degrade as low as 190 °C, and it could be enhanced to a temperature of 580 °C by functionalizing with an inorganic nanoparticle. As a biomaterial, it could be made degradable or stable for an intended application by playing with the key factors, and made thermal stable at high temperature by adding reinforcement agents. The BC related biomaterial still stand to be novel and an excellent development in biomedical science in the new era of green chemistry and biotechnology.