[SCREENING ASSESSMENT OF MATERIALS THROMBOGENICITY BY THE NUMBER OF PLATELETS ADHERED FROM THE FLOWING NATIVE BLOOD]

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Medical Device Engineering
• Hemostasis Research

Background:

• Biomaterials in contact with blood require resistance to thrombus formation.
• Assessing thrombogenicity involves quantifying platelet adhesion under blood flow.
• Existing methods may lack efficiency or accuracy for rapid screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a modified ex vivo test for screening material thrombogenicity.
• To enable rapid assessment of platelet adhesion on materials exposed to native blood.
• To improve the reliability and reduce errors in thrombogenicity testing.

Main Methods:

• Development of novel flow chambers capable of holding 16 material samples simultaneously.
• Connection of chambers to the arterial and venous systems of experimental animals for ex vivo blood perfusion.
• Automated calculation of adhered platelets per unit area after a 1-minute exposure.
• Validation using standard reference materials like pyrolytic carbon, titanium, glass, and polytetrafluoroethylene.

Main Results:

• Successful development and implementation of a modified ex vivo thrombogenicity assessment method.
• Demonstrated reliability through validation with known reference materials.
• Investigated new polymeric materials for synthetic vascular prostheses.
• Achieved significant error reduction in platelet adhesion quantification via automated analysis.

Conclusions:

• The developed technique provides a reliable method for assessing the thrombogenicity of biomaterials.
• This ex vivo approach is suitable for the screening assessment of materials intended for blood-contacting implants.
• The method facilitates the investigation of novel materials, including those for vascular prostheses.