Biomaterials with enhanced properties and devices made therefrom

Abstract

Biomaterials with enhanced properties such as improved strength, flexibility, durability and reduced thickness are useful in the fabrication of biomedical devices, particularly those subjected to continuous or non-continuous loads where repeated flexibility and long-term durability are required. These enhanced properties can be attributed to elevated levels of elastin, altered collagen types, and other biochemical changes which contribute to these enhanced properties. Examples of devices which would be improved by use of such tissue include heart valves, including percutaneous heart valves, and vascular grafts, patches and the like. Such enhanced materials can be sourced from specific populations of animals, such as neonatal calves, or in range-fed adult cattle, or can be fabricated or created from cell populations exhibiting such properties. In one embodiment, glutaraldehyde-fixed neonatal pericardial tissue is used to create leaflets in a percutaneous heart valve, and may be used without chemical fixation, with or without processes to remove residual cellular membranes, and utilized as a scaffold material for tissue engineering.