title: Evaluation of reconstituted collagen tape as a model for chemically modified soft tissues.
abstract: In the last decade a number of chemically fixed, soft tissue based bioprostheses have become commercially available. Chemical fixation of these materials changes a number of their physical and chemical properties. Quantitation of these effects has been difficult because of: anisotropy of the biopolymers, variable composition of the materials, and sample size and configuration limitations. Collagen tape, made from reconstituted collagen, has been chosen as a model material because it alleviates many of the aforementioned problems. Its constituent fibers are homogeneous and unidirectional. The cross-sectional area is constant. Thus, the resultant uniaxial tensile stress-strain relationship is reproducible to allow for systematic parametric studies. Results are presented for the change in tensile properties of the collagen tape as a function of exposure time to glutaraldehyde fixative. These properties are described by the equation: sigma = A (eB epsilon-1) The tensile properties of fresh and fixed pericardial tissue were also tested and corroborative results were found.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D002417:Cattle; D003094:Collagen / Q000502:physiology*; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000502:physiology; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008954:Models, Biological; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen