Comparison of Biomechanical Properties of Dura Mater Substitutes and Cranial Human Dura Mater : An In Vitro Study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the biomechanical differences between human dura mater and dura mater substitutes to optimize biomimetic materials.

Methods: Four groups were investigated. Group I used cranial dura mater (n=10), group II used Gore-Tex® Expanded Cardiovascular Patch (W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., Flagstaff, AZ, USA) (n=6), group III used Durepair® (Medtronic Inc., Goleta, CA, USA) (n=6), and group IV used Tutopatch® (Tutogen Medical GmbH, Neunkirchen am Brand, Germany) (n=6). We used an axial compression machine to measure maximum tensile strength.

Results: The mean tensile strengths were 7.01±0.77 MPa for group I, 22.03±0.60 MPa for group II, 19.59±0.65 MPa for group III, and 3.51±0.63 MPa for group IV. The materials in groups II and III were stronger than those in group I. However, the materials in group IV were weaker than those in group I.

Conclusion: An important dura mater graft property is biomechanical similarity to cranial human dura mater. This biomechanical study contributed to the future development of artificial dura mater substitutes with biomechanical properties similar to those of human dura mater.