Comparative in vitro Cytotoxicity Toward Human Osteoprogenitor Cells of Polycaprolactones Synthesized from Various Metallic Initiators

Various poly(ε‐caprolactone)s (PCLs) prepared by ring‐opening polymerization of ε‐caprolactone (CL) initiated by a range of metallic derivatives such as alkoxides, Al(OiPr)3, La(OiPr)3, Sn(octanoate)2, Ti(OiPr)4, Zn[O(CH2)3NHtBoc]2, or borohydride La(BH4)3(THF)3 were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity. The amount of residual metal present in the polymer samples was measured and compared to the initial quantity introduced. The effect of the metallic system on the biocompatibility profiles of the resulting polyesters was evaluated in vitro on PCL films from a series of cytotoxicity tests involving MTT and neutral red assays upon exposure to human osteoprogenitor cells. The absence of toxic influence of all these PCLs suggests that they may be used as biomaterials in contact with living human cells. Poly(ε‐caprolactone)s were prepared by ring‐opening polymerization of ε‐caprolactone using various metallic initiators, Al(OiPr)3, La(BH4)3(THF)3, La(OiPr)3, Sn(2‐ethylhexanoate)2=Sn(Oct)2, Ti(OiPr)4, Zn[O(CH2)3NHtBoc]2. The samples were found to be noncytotoxic toward human osteoprogenitor cells.