Hemocompatibility and surface properties of bovine pericardial patches: Effects of gamma sterilization

In the present study, the effects of sterilization by gamma irradiation on hemocompatibility and surface properties of the acellular bovine pericardium, a versatile biomaterial were investigated. The native bovine pericardium was decellularized using SDS for one group, Triton-X 100 for other group and subsequently sterilized with gamma rays. The chemical composition was confirmed using infrared spectroscopy, morphological changes by scanning electron microscopy and in vitro hemo-compatibility studies were conducted. Our results indicated that gamma ray sterilization process had significant effects on the processed bovine pericardium. A confirmed decrease in hemocompatibiity, with changes in the collagen organization and fragmentation was noticed. Conventional sterilization methods are not suitable for the targeted biomaterial since the proteins in biomaterial get denatured, compromise their physicochemical properties and hemocompatibiity.