The Polymer Society of Korea

Abstract

The demand for skin boosters has increased due to their ability to improve skin hydration, elasticity, and extracellular matrix regeneration. Thermoresponsive PLGA–PEG–PLGA triblock copolymers have attracted attention as injectable skin booster materials because they exhibit a sol–gel transition at physiological temperature, enabling minimally invasive injection. However, conventional melt polymerization provides limited control over glycolide (GL) and lactide (LA) sequence distribution within PLGA blocks, resulting in heterogeneous degradation behavior in vivo. In this study, we report a DBU-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization strategy that regulates GL/LA sequence distribution through controlled monomer feed rates. This uniform sequence architecture enables predictable degradation under physiological conditions. As degradation proceeds, lactic acid is released at a controlled rate, activating dermal fibroblasts and promoting extracellular matrix remodeling.