A fibrin-coated pericardial extracellular matrix prevented heart adhesion in a rat model

As most surgical treatments pose a risk of tissue adhesion, methods to prevent adhesion are needed across various surgical fields. In this study, we investigated the use of a decellularized pericardium with fibrin glue to prevent rat heart adhesion. Porcine pericardia were decellularized by a high-hydrostatic pressure method. Cells adhered to the resulting pericardial extracellular matrix (ECM) during an in vitro cell-seeding test, but fibrin-coated pericardial ECM showed reduced cell adhesion. In a rat surgical model of heart adhesion, the fibrin-coated pericardial ECM did not adhere to the heart and mesothelial cell adhesion was observed on the ECM surface. Notably, the anti-adhesion effect of fibrin-coated pericardial ECM was observed 4 weeks after surgery. These results support the utility of fibrin-coated pericardial ECM as an adhesion prevention material for cardiovascular surgery. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 1088-1094, 2019.