As an important biodegradable material

polylactic acid (PLA) has been extensively applied in many fields

including biomedical polymers.Monosaccharides have good affinity to peptide and protein and have good compatibility with tissue cell.In order to improve the properties of PLA

especially hydrophilicity and cell compatibilities

more and more importance have been attracted to monosaccharides modified PLA.According to the types of monosaccharides

the recent progress on the modification of PLA by different monosaccharides and their derivatives

have been reviewed in this article.It is pointed that the direction of PLA modification involving the utilization of biological resources and functionalization of PLA material should be noteworthy

and the research on the modification method via melt copolymerization direct using inexpensive lactic acid as starting material should be strengthened.