Collagen membranes crosslinked by β-cyclodextrin polyrotaxane monoaldehyde with good biocompatibilities and repair capabilities for cornea repair. Issue 46 (31st May 2017) - Zhao, Xuan
Abstract : Better mechanical properties; suturability; corneal regeneration. Abstract : Collagen is an excellent candidate for a cornea repair material. However, current use of collagen materials for cornea repair is limited by their insufficient mechanical properties. Herein, we used the β-cyclodextrin polyrotaxane monoaldehyde (β-CD-PR-4) a compound that has good biocompatibility for crosslinking collagen in order to obtain the appropriate cornea repair material, Col-β-CD-PR-4. We characterized the physical and chemical properties of Col-β-CD-PR-4 and compared it with that of collagen crosslinked by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) and glutaraldehyde (GA). The results showed that Col-β-CD-PR-4 had an appropriate water content and good light transmittance. Compared to the other crosslinkers, Col-β-CD-PR-4 had better mechanical properties, especially tensile strength, suturability, and enzyme tolerance capacity. Col-β-CD-PR-4 also had high suture retention strength as demonstrated by suture experiments showing tight suturing on rabbit cornea. Moreover, Col-β-CD-PR-4 displayed good biocompatibility to human corneal epithelial cells in vitro . In vivo lamellar keratoplasty (LKP) results showed that cornea had epithelized completely in approximately 16 days, and the transparency was restored quickly in 4 weeks. No inflammation and corneal neovascularization were observed and corneal rejection reaction and keratoconus were not observed. Overall, Col-β-CD-PR-4 showed excellent potential for use in corneal tissue engineering.