An in vitro bovine pericardial hemocompatibility testing system.

Background And Aims Of The Study: Bovine pericardium has been used as a biomaterial for heart valves since the late 1960s. Cross-linking agents have been applied routinely to reduce host-tissue response, including antigenicity, and to improve tissue leaflet durability. Evaluation of improvements in bovine pericardial valve leaflet calcification and flexibility require that in vitro systems be developed to correlate data with results from in vivo studies.

In vitro chondrocyte collagen deposition within porous HDPE: substrate microstructure and wettability effects.

The effects of microstructure and wettability of porous high density polyethylene (HDPE) substrates on chondrocyte collagen synthesis in vitro were assayed. Three size grades of hydrophilic and hydrophobic HDPE substrates with ranges of pore volumes of 40-60%, pore sizes of 115-335 microns, and surface areas per unit volumes of 7-20 mm2/mm3 were seeded with fetal bovine chondrocytes. After 7 days of incubation, the cells within all substrates remained spherical, and contained mainly type II collagen (as verified by type I and II collagen I-ELISAs).