The Role of Polyhydroxyalkanoates in Veterinary Medicine: Biosynthesis, Material Modifications and Clinical Applications

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a structurally diverse family of microbially synthesised, biodegradable polyesters that accumulate as intracellular carbon and energy reserves under conditions of nutrient imbalance. Their combination of adjustable mechanical performance with controlled hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation, and non-toxic degradation intermediates (ex. D-3-hydroxybutyrate) has made them a longstanding candidate biomaterial for human tissue engineering, drug delivery, and resorbable implants. Comparatively, their application in veterinary medicine remains an emerging and fragmented field, despite an arguably stronger practical case: veterinary practice faces acute pressure to replace non-degradable sutures, orthopaedic hardware, and single-use plastics with materials that avoid secondary retrieval surgery, that can be produced at low cost for large-scale animal use, and that align with growing regulatory and consumer demand for sustainable animal healthcare. This review consolidates current understanding of PHA biosynthesis, covering the core: phaA-phaB-phaC pathway, medium-chain-length variants, microbial producers, feedstock flexibility, and metabolic engineering strategies for yield improvement. It also examines material modification strategies, including blending, chemical grafting, surface functionalisation, electrospinning, and additive manufacturing, used to adapt PHAs for specific veterinary form factors. The clinical and preclinical evidence base is presented in detail across wound management, orthopaedic and soft-tissue regeneration, cardiovascular tissue engineering, drug delivery, and surgical devices, with attention to species-specific considerations in companion animals, horses, and food-producing ruminants. This review relies exclusively on peer-reviewed literature for its quantitative claims, while transparently noting where veterinary-specific data are lacking, extrapolated from rodent or human models, or in need of independent verification. Persistent barriers like production cost, batch-to-batch variability, absence of veterinary-specific regulatory pathways, and limited long-term in vivo safety data in large animals are analysed critically, alongside translational opportunities including waste-feedstock valorisation, hybrid PHA/ceramic and PHA/natural-polymer composites, and stimuli-responsive formulations. We conclude that PHAs are scientifically well positioned but institutionally under-validated for veterinary translation, and we outline a concrete research agenda to close this gap.