MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ARTERY-ARTERY CONNECTION BASED UPON TRANSGLUTAMINASE CROSS-LINKED GELATIN

The possibility of surgical repairing of blood vessels by biocompatible adhesive represents an alternative to the conventional sewing techniques. The aim of our study was to evaluate mechanical properties of arteries glued by a cross linked gelatin. Series of quasistatic uniaxial tensile tests of two overlapping arterial strips bonded by the two component glue (gelatin linked by the enzyme transglutaminase) was carried out. The 3D digital image correlation system gave local deformations, and thus the mutual slipping of the bonded strips could be evaluated. The effect of TGA and gelatin concentrations were estimated on the basis of observed data. Recorded maximum stresses were rather small (only tens of kPa). However, cross-linking activity on contact surfaces was proved histologically.