An in vitro study of blood compatibility of vascular grafts made of bacterial cellulose in comparison with conventionally‐used graft materials

Abstract

In this study we analyzed the blood compatibility of bacterial cellulose (BC) as a new biosynthetic material for use as a vascular graft. As reference materials we used expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) vascular grafts. These materials are in clinical use today. Tubes with inner diameters of both 4 (not PET) and 6 mm were tested. Heparin-coated PVC tubes (hepPVC) were used as a negative control. Platelet consumption and thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT) were used as parameters of coagulation and for complement activation, sC3a and sC5b-9 were used. The investigated parameters were measured after 1-h exposure to freshly drawn human blood supplemented with a low dose of heparin in a Chandler loop system. The results showed that BC exhibits no significant difference in platelet consumption, as compared with PET (6 mm), ePTFE and hepPVC. The PET material consumed more platelets than any of the other materials. The TAT generation for 4 mm tubes was not significantly different between BC and the other materials. For 6 mm tubes, however, differences were observed between hepPVC and PET (p < 0.0001); BC and hepPVC (p = 0.0016); ePTFE and PET (p < 0.0001); BC and ePTFE (p = 0.0029); BC and PET (p = 0.0141). Surprisingly, considering the low platelet consumption, the complement activation parameters (sC3a and sC5b-9) were much higher for BC, as compared with the other materials for both 4 and 6 mm tubes.

Improved ex vivo blood compatibility of central venous catheter with noble metal alloy coating

“…A modified Chandler loop model was used to assess the blood compatibility of BIP coating materials as previously described 14, 15, 16. Briefly, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tubes (Medtronic, Minneapolis, USA), internally coated with Carmeda BioActive Surface (CBAS), with an internal diameter of 6.5 mm and 30 cm length, pre‐treated with saline for 5 min, were filled with 4.5 mL fresh whole blood.…”

Molecular Understanding of Endothelial Cell and Blood Interactions with Bacterial Cellulose: Novel Opportunities for Artificial Blood Vessels

“…Although the thrombogenic property of cellulose has been extensively researched as it has been used for haemodialysis membranes (Fushimi et al, 1998;Mao et al, 2004), the thrombogenicity of BC remains undetermined because it is a relatively new material for vessel grafts. Therefore, one of our studies focussed on delineating the blood compatibility of BC in comparison with ePTFE and PET vascular grafts, which are both used clinically as graft material (Fink et al, 2011b). The endothelium's most important function in relation to biomaterials is hemostatic control.…”

“…Since BC is used in a wet state, finding appropriate analysis techniques has been challenging. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to investigate the thrombogenic properties of BC compared with other graft materials (Fink et al, 2011b). We also developed a modified automated calibrated thrombin generation assay (Fink et al, 2010).…”

“…Most methods that study the coagulation process measure coagulation in the bulk without regards to where it began or the kinetics describing the propagation from the initiation point. Our method (Fink et al, 2011b) makes it possible to visualize the exact initiation point of coagulation and determine how coagulation propagates (Kantlehner et al, 2000). The captured images are used to calculate the coagulation time of the plasma at the surface (surface coagulation time) and into the bulk (propagation).…”

Hemocompatible polyethersulfone/polyurethane composite membrane for high-performance antifouling and antithrombotic dialyzer

“…5,6 In the past decades, with the aim of improved blood compatibility or reduced anticoagulant dosage, tremendous efforts had been taken to improve the hemocompatibility of artificial polymeric materials. [7][8][9] Many functional synthesized polymers and biopolymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), phospholipid polymers, protein, and heparin, have been introduced onto the surface of polymeric membranes by various methods such as bulk blending, 10,11 surface plasma treatment, 12 surface grafting, 13,14 surface coating, [15][16][17] and so forth. Among the methods, blending of composite components is the most industrially and clinically…”