Biodegradable arterial prosthesis from rat aorta.

The preparation and potential clinical use of biodegradable microarterial grafts from rat aorta were investigated. Trypsin treated arterial segments were coated with heparin or chondroitin sulfate to reduce thrombogenicity. The samples were crosslinked with formaldehyde vapors at 4 degrees C. 50 - 100 microgram glycosaminoglycans taken up per mg aorta dry weight were resistant to washing with water for 24 hrs. The covalent crosslinks introduced by formaldehyde and resistance of the grafts to proteolytic degradation. The treated grafts were implanted on 70 rats in an infrarenal aortic position. The permeability of the aldehyde crosslinked prosthesis after 21 days by patency test was lower than the patency ratio measured with fresh autologous grafts. The glycosaminoglycans associated with the prosthesis improve the patency of the crosslinked grafts by about 48%. The resistance to bacterial collagenase of the excised grafts decreased with progressing time of implantation. In the permeable prosthesis and in the contiguous aorta, elastolytic activity was demonstrated by radial diffusion in elastin-agar gels. The grafts removed after 21 days of implantation were surrounded with scar tissue. In contrast to fresh aorta, the macromolecular hydroxyprolin in the scar was readily solubilized with pepsin. The presence of the fragmented elastin and collagen fibers in the excised graft is in favour of their resorption "in vivo".