Degradation and erosion mechanisms of bioresorbable porous acellular vascular grafts: an in vitro investigation.

ABSTRACT: A fundamental mechanism of in situ tissue regeneration from biodegradable synthetic acellular vascular grafts is the effective interplay between graft degradation, erosion and the production of extracellular matrix. In order to understand this crucial process of graft erosion and degradation, we conducted an in vitro investigation of grafts (n = 4 at days 1, 4, 7, 10 each) exposed to enzymatic degradation. Herein, we provide constitutive relationships for mass loss and mechanical properties based on much-needed experimental data. Furthermore, we formulate a mathematical model to provide a physics-based framework for understanding graft erosion. A novel finding is that despite their porous nature, grafts lost mass exponentially via surface erosion demonstrating a 20% reduction in outer diam

SUBMITTER: Gade PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5550965 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature