Effect of alkyl chain length on the interfacial strength of surgical sealants composed of hydrophobically-modified Alaska-pollock-derived gelatins and poly(ethylene)glycol-based four-armed crosslinker.

Surgical sealants are widely used clinically. Fibrin sealant is a commonly used sealant, but is ineffective under wet conditions during surgery. In this study, we developed surgical sealants composed of hydrophobically modified Alaska-pollock-derived gelatins (hm-ApGltns) with different alkyl chain lengths from C3 to C18 and a poly(ethylene)glycol-based 4-armed crosslinker (4S-PEG). The burst strength of the hm-ApGltns-based sealant was evaluated using a fresh porcine blood vessel and was found to increase with increasing alkyl chain length from 167±22 to 299±43mmHg when the substitution ratio of amino groups of ApGltn was around 10mol%. The maximum burst strength was observed when stearoyl-group modified ApGltn (Ste-ApGltn)/4S-PEG-based sealant was used, displaying 3-fold higher burst strength than the original ApGltn (Org-ApGltn)/4S-PEG sealant, and 10-fold higher than the commercial fibrin sealant. Ste-ApGltn/4S-PEG-based sealant was biodegraded in rat subcutaneous tissue within 8 weeks without severe inflammation. By molecular interaction analysis using surface plasmon resonance, the binding constant of Ste-ApGltn to fibronectin was found to be 9-fold higher than that of Org-ApGltn. Therefore, the developed sealant, in particular the Ste-ApGltn/4S-PEG-based sealant, has potential applications in the field of cardiovascular surgery as well as thoracic surgery.