Abstract: The clinical used bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) were prepared from biological tissues by glutaraldehyde (GA) crosslinking. But the clinical application of BHVs is limited mainly due to calcification, cytotoxicity and remaining immunogenicity. Procyanidins (PC) can crosslink acellular heart valve matrix (AHVM) through hydrogen bond formation and prevent AHVM from calcification. The aim of this study is to modify GA crosslinking method using PC co-crosslinking to produce a much ideal material with higher compatibility for BHV preparation. Porcine aortic AHVM was crosslinked by 8 mg/mL PC for 4 h and then by 1.25 mg/mL GA for 44 h. The co-crosslinked AHVM was tested for cytocompatibility, blood compatibility and immunogenicity. The results showed that the in vitro adhesion rate of valvular interstitial cells on co-crosslinked AHVM was increased by 59% （78.75%～19.75%）when compared with that of GA-crosslinking. There was no difference in hemolysis between co- and GA- or PC-crosslinked AHVM. The co-crosslinked AHVM exhibited significant anti-thrombosis effect ((193±15.5) platelets) when compared with that of GA-crosslinked ((292.6±24.93) platelets). Furthermore, co-crosslinked AHVM displayed lower immunogenicity than that of GA-crosslinked ((49.33±6.3)% vs (95.27±5.26)%, cell adhesive rate). These results suggest that co-crosslinked AHVM has high potential to be used for preparation of BHVs.

Key words: procyanidins, glutaraldehyde, crosslinking, heart valve matrix, compatibility