{
  "abstract": "Biodegradable porous microspheres hold considerable promise as regenerative fillers, injectable biomaterials, tissue-engineering scaffolds, and drug-delivery carriers; however, how polymer properties and amphiphilic modification jointly influence pore formation remains insufficiently understood. In this study, porous microspheres composed of poly(D,L-lactide) (PDLLA), poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and amphiphilic PEG-PDLLA were fabricated by a porogen-assisted solvent evaporation method, with PEG-PDLLA incorporated as an amphiphilic morphology-modifying polymer component. The relationships among polymer type and molecular weight, particle size, porogen incorporation, PEG-PDLLA incorporation, and microsphere morphology were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, tapped-density porosity analysis, laser diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis, micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). PDLLA exhibited the highest corrected density-derived porosity index (42.4%), followed by PLLA (30.9%) and PCL (13.6%). Smaller PDLLA microspheres showed higher corrected density-derived porosity, reaching 50.5% at a median particle diameter (D50) of 28.7 μm. PEG-PDLLA incorporation was associated with the formation of surface-open pores and heterogeneous internal architectures as well as increased nitrogen-accessible BET surface area and pore volume, with response exhibited in a polymer-dependent manner. Micro-CT showed differences in internal density distribution and architecture between PLLA and PLLA/PEG-PDLLA microspheres, while DSC revealed polymer-dependent thermal characteristics without fundamentally altering the characteristic thermal transitions of the host polymers. Overall, porous microsphere formation was associated with polymer physicochemical properties, PEG-PDLLA-associated amphiphilic morphology modification, molecular weight, particle size, porogen incorporation, and emulsion/solidification behavior. These findings provide a comparative framework for investigating formulation strategies for biodegradable porous microspheres with tunable architecture and surface accessibility for regenerative medicine and controlled drug-delivery applications.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "R&D Center, VAIM Co., Ltd., 30, Techno 1-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34016, Republic of Korea"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jin Cheol Cho"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sun Woo Jung"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Gunpoong Kim"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/arr85tk33cx78.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/polym18192415",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "arr85tk33cx78",
  "issns": [
    "2073-4360"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/19/2415",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2502|biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7216073144",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-02",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/arr85tk33cx78.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:44Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/polym18192415",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/19/2415"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2502|biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties",
      "subfield": "materials-polymers"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Polymer-Dependent Morphology Development of Biodegradable Porous Microspheres with Amphiphilic PEG-PDLLA Incorporation",
  "title_text": "Polymer-Dependent Morphology Development of Biodegradable Porous Microspheres with Amphiphilic PEG-PDLLA Incorporation",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:44Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/arr85tk33cx78",
  "venue": "Polymers",
  "versions": []
}