Glutraldhyde treated procine pericardium as intra-atrial baffle : immunological and histological evaluations

Immunological and histological evaluations were carried out to determine the applicability of pericardium tanned with 1% glutaraldehyde (GA) and preserved in 0.35% GA as the intraatrial baffle prosthesis. In the skin tests, rats sensitized with subcutaneously implanted fresh procine showed an accelerated second set skin graft rejection and an increase in the number of medium to large lymphocytes in the local lymphnodes. In contrast, rats implanted with GA treated porcine pericardium did not show an acceleration of the second set skin graft rejection, and there was a weed response in the local lymphnodes. In the lymphocyte transformation tests, the stimulation index (S.I.) showed a low value in all of the GA treated procine pericardium imolanted and inoculated dogs. Conversely, S.I. was high in the fresh porcine pericardium inoculated dogs. In the macroscopic observatio, it was found that the surface of the implanted GA treated procine pericardium was covered with fibrous sheath on both right and left sides after 3-12 months period following the implantation, and no thrombus was seen. In the histopathological studies, the structure of the GA-treated porcine pericardium was found to be well-maintained with minimum sign of the degeneration. Sic months after the implantation, the surface of the fibrous sheath was completely covered with a layer of new endothelial cells. This layer of new endothelial cells became denser with time laose. It was suggested that GA-treated procine pericardium is applicable for the use as intra-atrial baffle.