Abstract
Background: Bovine pericardium treated with glutaraldehyde(GA) is one of the most popular prosthetic materials. However, its late calcific degeneration after implantation results in early failure of the prosthesis. Therefore, we investigated the effects of combined treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) and glutamate on calcific degeneration of GA treated bovine pericardium. Material and Method: Sixty square-shaped pieces of bovine pericardia were fixed in 0.625% GA solution with 4g/L MgCl2.6H2O as a control group (group 1). Sixty pieces pretreated with 1% SDS (group 2) and sixty pieces posttreated with 8% glutamate (group 3) were also fixed in the same GA solution. Sixty pieces pretreated with 1% SDS and posttrated with 8% glutamate were also fixed in the same GA solution (group 4). After 1 month of fixation, the pieces were implanted into the belly of sixty Sprague-Dawley rat subdermally and were extracted 1 month, 2 months and 3 months after the implantation. With an atomic absorption spectrophotometry, we measured the calcium amount deposited. Result: The calcium deposition in 1 month was 2.01$\pm$0.13 mg/g in group 1, 1.45$\pm$0.31 mg/g in group 2, 2.49$\pm$0.15 mg/g in group 3 and 0.75$\pm$0.27 mg/g in group 4. In 2 months, it was 3.57$\pm$0.15 mg/g in group 1, 0.98$\pm$0.30 mg/g in group 2, 3.46$\pm$0.12 mg/g in group 3, and 1.48$\pm$0.39 mg/g in group 4, and 5.45$\pm$0.42 mg/g in group 1, 2.43$\pm$0.53 mg/g in group 2, 4.20$\pm$0.55 mg/g in group 3, and 1.02$\pm$0.27 mg/g in group 4 in 3 months. The calcium depositions in group 2 and 4 were less than those of group 1 and 3 in 1 month 2, months, and 3 months(p<0.01). The calcium depositions in group 1, 2 and 3 increased with time. However, they remained unchanged in group 4, which was statistically significant(p<0.01). Conclusion: Pretreatment with SDS is effective in reducing calcification of GA treated bovine pericardium, and the combined method of pretreatment with SDS and posttreatment with glutamate was more effective than the other methods.
