FIXATION OF VARIOUS PORCINE ARTERIES WITH AN EPOXY COMPOUND

The clinical results of biological vascular grafts have been unsatisfa ctory. The poor results of these vascular grafts may be attributed to the fixatives, aldehydes, used in fixing tissues. In an attempt to ove rcome this problem, a new fixative, epoxy compound, has recently been used to fix biological vascular grafts. The study was undertaken to in vestigate the crosslinking characteristics, fixation index and denatur ation temperature, of various porcine arteries fixed with an epoxy com pound. The porcine arteries investigated in the study were the common carotid artery, internal thoracic artery, abdominal aorta, and sapheno us artery. In addition, the effects of sonication on the porcine arter ies before fixation on their cross-linking characteristics were analyz ed. The fresh and glutaraldehyde-fixed arteries were used as controls. It was noted that glycine, proline, and alanine were the most abundan t amino acids found in the porcine internal thoracic artery. In the am ino acid analysis, it was observed that the amino acids in the porcine arteries reacted with epoxy compound or glutaraldehyde were lysine, h ydroxylysine, histidine, and arginine. Of these amino acids, lysine wa s the most reactive. In general, the fixed arteries were relatively st iffer than their fresh counterparts. The fixation indices and denatura tion temperatures of various porcine arteries were comparable througho ut the entire fixation process. The amounts of free amino groups of th e sonicated arteries were significantly lower than those of their unso nicated counterparts (p < 0.05). It is speculated that the diminishing free amino groups of the sonicated arteries may be attributed to the removal of the destroyed cell debris and adherent proteins of the arte ries after sonication. However, it was learned that sonication on the porcine arteries before fixation did not seem to affect their fixation indices and denaturation temperatures. The results obtained in this s tudy may help one in selecting the raw materials for developing a smal l-diameter biological vascular graft.