Impact of Extracellular Matrix Injury on the Calcification of Artificial Bovine Pericardial Leaflets: An Experimental Study.

To investigate the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) injury in bioprosthetic valve calcification, we constructed an ECM damage model by applying a 15 N stress to the bovine pericardium sample in both transverse and longitudinal directions after tissue cross-linking, whereas no stress was applied in the control group. Then we implanted two pieces of bovine pericardium on both sides of the dorsal midline in Wistar rats from both groups and measured the calcium content of the implanted bovine pericardium. The results showed that the calcium content of experimental group was significantly higher than that of control group ( p < 0.