Polysaccharide-based films for the prevention of unwanted postoperative adhesions at biological interfaces.
Postoperative adhesions protect, repair, and supply nutrients to injured tissues; however, such adhesions often remain permanent and complicate otherwise successful surgeries by tethering tissues together that are normally separated. An ideal adhesion barrier should not only effectively prevent unwanted adhesions but should be easy to use, however, those that are currently available have inconsistent efficacy and are difficult to handle or to apply. A robust hydrogel film composed of alginate and a photo-crosslinkable hyaluronic acid (HA) derivative (glycidyl methacrylate functionalized hyaluronic acid (GMHA)) represents a solution to this problem. A sacrificial porogen (urea) was used in the film manufacture process to impart macropores that yield films that are more malleable and tougher than equivalent films produced without the sacrificial porogen. The robust mechanical behavior of these templated alginate/GMHA films directly facilitated handling characteristics of the barrier film. In a rat peritoneal abrasion model for adhesion formation, the polysaccharide films successfully prevented adhesions with statistical equivalence to the leading anti-adhesion technology on the market, Seprafilm®. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Postoperative adhesions often remain permanent and complicate otherwise successful surgeries by tethering tissues together that are normally separated and pose potentially significant challenges to patients. Therefore, the generation of adhesion barriers that are easy to deploy during surgery and effectively prevent unwanted adhesions is a big challenge. In this study robust hydrogel films composed of alginate and a photo-crosslinkable hyaluronic acid (HA) derivative (glycidyl methacrylate functionalized HA, GMHA) were fabricated and investigated for their potential to act as a solution to this problem using a rat peritoneal abrasion model for adhesion formation. We observed the polysaccharide films successfully prevented adhesions with statistical equivalence to the leading anti-adhesion technology on the market, Seprafilm®, suggesting that such films represent a promising strategy for the prevention of postoperative adhesions.
['Mayes|Sarah M|SM|', 'Davis|Jessica|J|', 'Scott|Jessica|J|', 'Aguilar|Vanessa|V|', 'Zawko|Scott A|SA|', 'Swinnea|Steve|S|', 'Peterson|Daniel L|DL|', 'Hardy|John G|JG|', 'Schmidt|Christine E|CE|']
D000464:Alginates D000818:Animals D016880:Anisotropy D004852:Epoxy Compounds D005260:Female D005347:Fibroblasts D006801:Humans D006820:Hyaluronic Acid D020100:Hydrogels D008567:Membranes, Artificial D008689:Methacrylates D016062:Porosity D011183:Postoperative Complications D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley D013718:Tensile Strength D000267:Tissue Adhesions D014508:Urea
Hydrogel Alginate Hyaluronic acid Sacrificial porogen Anti-adhesion Membrane