关键词：聚羟基脂肪酸酯；细胞毒性；生物相容性；生物医学
摘 要：The ideal materials used for biomedical application are of high biocompatibility, acceptable strength, minimal tissue responses and low cytotoxicity. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) represent a class of biopolymers composed of different types of hydroxyalkanoic acids monomers, which are produced by microorganisms under unbalanced growth conditions. With excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility, PHAs attract more and more attention of various areas especially medicine and health care, where they have already been used in lots of aspects, ranging from wound dressings, drug delivery applications, and surgical implants to other medical devices. However, it is a crucial issue should be taken into consideration that the potential cytotoxicity is caused by both the chemical compositions and the methods of processing and forming PHAs, such as the surface properties and the chemical purities of the materials. Therefore, systematic assessment of PHAs' cytotoxicity is very important for their biological and biomedical applications. In this chapter, we focus on the cytotoxicity caused by different types of PHAs and the mechanisms behind are also discussed.