Crosslinking characteristics of porcine tendons: Effects of fixation with glutaraldehyde or epoxy

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, if left untreated, often produce significant disability in the athletically active population. Currently, autogenous tissue is the most commonly used substitute for ACL reconstruction because its immunogenicity is virtually nonexistent. However, the functional amount of autogenous tissue available for transplantation is limited. Additionally, this transplantation procedure may create a defect at the donor site, which can result in functional disability. To address these concerns, a prototype xenograft ligament prosthesis, epoxy-fixed porcine Achilles tendon, was developed. This study was intended to investigate the crosslinking characteristics of the epoxy-fixed porcine tendon. The fresh and glutaraldehyde-fixed porcine Achilles tendons were used as controls. Fresh porcine Achilles tendons procured from a slaughterhouse were used to fabricate the ligament prostheses. A 4% epoxy (ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether) solution or a 0.625% glutaraldehyde solution was employed to fix the porcine tendons. Samples of each group were taken out at various elapsed fixation periods. The crosslinking characteristics- denaturation temperature, moisture content, and fixation index-of each sample were then determined. In the study, it was learned that the crosslinking rate for the glutaraldehyde fixation was faster than that for the epoxy fixation. While the denaturation temperatures and the fixation indices for both studied groups were higher than for the fresh one, the denaturation temperature of the glutaraldehyde-fixed tendon was relatively higher than its epoxy-fixed counterpart. However, the fixation index and the moisture content for both studied groups were comparable. Also, it was noted that the epoxy-fixed tendon appeared more natural as compared to its glutaraldehyde-fixed counterpart. The implications of these findings for the epoxy-fixed tendon in the clinical ACL reconstruction require further investigation.

In vitro cytocompatibility evaluation of alginate dialdehyde for biological tissue fixation

“…However, due to the immediate degradation and presence of antigenicity, these naturally derived tissues must be chemically fixed before they can be implanted in humans (Schmidt & Baier, 2000). In recent years, various synthetic crosslinking reagents including formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde (Cheung, Perelman, Ko, & Nimni, 1985), polyepoxy compound (Sung et al, 1996) and cyanimide, 1-ethyl-3(-3 dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) (Lee, Edwards, & Pereira, 1996), have been widely used in fixing biological tissues, however, these synthetic crosslinking reagents are all highly (or relatively highly) cytotoxic (Nishi, Nakajima, & Ikada, 1995;Yu, Wan, & Chen, 2008). Therefore, to overcome the cytotoxic effect of the aforementioned synthetic crosslinking reagents, a novel crosslinking agent, alginate dialdehyde (ADA), was developed to fix biological tissues by our group.…”

“…Naturally derived biological tissues have been used extensively to fabricate various bioprostheses such as heart valves (Zhai et al, 2006), vascular grafts (Yu, Liu, Xu, & Wan, 2010), ligament substitutes (Sung, Shih, & Hsu, 1996) and pericardial patches (Jayakrishnan & Jameela, 1996), because that they can offer better constructions for adhesion and growth of cells than synthetic materials and possess mechanical properties similar to those of native tissues. However, due to the immediate degradation and presence of antigenicity, these naturally derived tissues must be chemically fixed before they can be implanted in humans (Schmidt & Baier, 2000).…”

Mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of glutaraldehyde crosslinked bovine pericardium followed by glutamic acid treatment

“…To minimize these problems, besides the classical procedure using glutaraldehyde (GA) many alternative processes were introduced for the manufacture bioprosthetic heart valves (BHV) and includes the crosslinking with azide 3 , epoxydes 4 , carbodiimides 5 and diisocyanates 6 , the treatment with GA in non-aqueous solvents 7 , diphosphonates 8 and α-amino oleic acid treatment 9 .…”

Crosslinking effect of dialdehyde starch (DAS) on decellularized porcine aortas for tissue engineering

“…Therefore, the fixation index (FI), defined as the percentage of free amino groups of the tested tissues consumed on forming Schiff base, can be estimated accurately through NHN assay [21]. After being fixed for predetermined time, all specimens were lyophilized and weighted.…”