CROSS-LINKING CHARACTERISTICS OF PORCINE TENDONS - EFFECTS OF FIXATION WITH GLUTARALDEHYDE OR EPOXY

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, if left untreated, often pr oduce significant disability in the athletically active population. Cu rrently, autogenous tissue is the most commonly used substitute for AC L reconstruction because its immunogenicity is virtually nonexistent. However, the functional amount of autogenous tissue available for tran splantation is limited. Additionally, this transplantation procedure m ay create a defect at the donor site, which can result in functional d isability. To address these concerns, a prototype xenograft ligament p rosthesis, epoxy-fixed porcine Achilles tendon, was developed. This st udy was intended to investigate the crosslinking characteristics of th e epoxy-fixed porcine tendon. The fresh and glutaraldehyde-fixed porci ne Achilles tendons were used as controls. Fresh porcine Achilles tend ons procured from a slaughterhouse were used to fabricate the ligament prostheses. A 4% epoxy (ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether) solution or a 0.625% glutaraldehyde solution was employed to fix the porcine tend ons. Samples of each group were taken out at various elapsed fixation periods. The crosslinking characteristics denaturation temperature, mo isture content, and fixation index-of each sample were then determined . In the study, it was learned that the crosslinking rate for the glut araldehyde fixation was faster than that for the epoxy fixation. While the denaturation temperatures and the fixation indices for both studi ed groups were higher than for the fresh one, the denaturation tempera ture of the glutaraldehyde-fixed tendon was relatively higher than its epoxy-fixed counterpart. However, the fixation index and the moisture content for both studied groups were comparable. Also, it was noted t hat the epoxy-fixed tendon appeared more natural as compared to its gl utaraldehyde-fixed counterpart. The implications of these findings for the epoxy-fixed tendon in the clinical ACL reconstruction require fur ther investigation. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.