A New Reinforced Fibrin Collagen Glycosaminoglycan Material to Resist Tissue Contraction in Heart Valves

CONCLUSIONS A crosslinked, multicomponent scaffold of collagen, GAG and fibrin has been characterised for heart valve applications. Fibrin gels reinforced with a 0.75% collagen, 0.044% GAG scaffolds can resist VSMC induced contraction significantly more than fibrin-only gels, while allowing cell proliferation and maintaining excellent cell viability. This improvement in structural integrity may facilitate the use of fibrin based materials for heart valve tissue engineering.