Calcification and identification of metalloproteinases in bovine pericardium after subcutaneous implantation in rats.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of two anticalcification pre-treatments (chloroform/methanol and ethanol) and serum conditioning of glutaraldehyde-crosslinked bovine pericardium on the calcification degree and the presence of gelatinase activities in a subcutaneous implantation model in rats. Regarding calcification of the implants, glutaraldehyde control treatments showed a significatively higher calcification degree than pericardium treated with anticalcification reagents. Serum conditioning of glutaraldehyde treated tissues did not influence the calcification degree; moreover, no differences were found in these samples with the time of implantation (30 and 90 days).

Comparison of the mechanical behaviors of biological tissues subjected to uniaxial tensile testing: pig, calf and ostrich pericardium sutured with Gore-Tex.

The purpose of this study was to compare the mechanical behavior of calf pericardium, pig pericardium and ostrich pericardium when subjected to tensile testing. Tensile stress was applied to 108 tissue samples, 36 of each type of tissue, until rupture. Groups of three adjacent strips measuring 12 x 2 cm(2) were cut longitudinally.

The telescoping suture--Part II: A novel method to improve the mechanical behavior of a new biomaterial: ostrich pericardium.

Ostrich pericardium, sutured using a telescoping or overlapping technique, was studied to determine its mechanical behavior. From each of 12 pericardial sacs, four contiguous strips were cut longitudinally, from root to apex, and another four contiguous strips were cut in transverse direction. One of the strips in each set of four was used as an unsutured control and the remaining three were sutured by overlapping 0.

The telescoping suture--Part 1: Does this technique improve the mechanical behavior of a biomaterial?: Calf pericardium.

The authors study the mechanical behavior of calf pericardium employed in the construction of cardiac valve leaflets when subjected to telescoping suture, followed by tensile stress until rupture. One hundred twenty pericardial tissue samples were employed, 60 cut from root-to-apex and another 60 cut in transverse direction. Each of these two groups consisted of 12 control samples that were left unsutured and four sets of 12 samples each that were rejoined by telescoping suture using silk, Prolene, nylon or Gore-Tex.