In vivo biocompatibility evaluation of Cibacron blue-agarose

This study investigated the biocompatibility of Cibacron blue-agarose as a biomaterial for microencapsulation. Cibacron blue-agarose is known to have an affinity for albumin under certain pH conditions and in the proper steri c environment. Thus it was postulated that the material's high affinity for host albumin might reduce a secondary immune response and reduce the fibro tic overgrowth that often accompanies transplanted foreign materials. In vi vo tests were performed using the Lewis rat model. Both Cibacron blue-agaro se and plain agarose disks were prepared, with some disks from each group b eing pre-exposed to sera from Lewis rats. The disks were transplanted into the peritoneal cavities of Lewis rats. After 115 days the disks were excise d. Fibrotic overgrowth was analyzed using light microscopy, and a blind stu dy was used to measure the average growth thickness on each disk. The resul ts demonstrated that all disks developed some fibrotic encapsulation and th at the presence of Cibacron blue was not significant in reducing fibrotic o vergrowth (p = 0.62). Agarose disks preexposed to sera had significantly le ss average overgrowth than any other group (p = 0.06). (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.