There are a few versatile synthetic materials used for many different scaffold applications. One of these commonly used materials is polylactic acid (PLA), a synthetic polymer. PLA - polylactic acid. This is a polyester which degrades within the human body to form lactic acid, a naturally occurring chemical which is easily removed from the body. Similar materials are polyglycolic acid (PGA) and polycaprolactone (PCL): their degradation mechanism is similar to that of PLA,  but PCL degrades slower and PGA degrades faster. PLA is commonly combined with PGA to create poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA). This is especially useful because the degradation of PLGA can be tailored by altering the weight percentages of PLA and PGA: More PLA – slower degradation, more PLA – faster degradation. This tunability, along with its biocompatibility, makes it an extremely useful material for scaffold creation.