LAUSR

Current suture-based surgical techniques used to repair torn rotator cuff tendons do not result in mechanically competent tendon-to-bone attachments, leading to high post-operative failure rates. Although adhesives have been proposed to protect against sutures tearing through tendon during healing, no currently available adhesive meets the clinical needs of adhesive strength, biocompatibility, and promotion of healing. We present a Biocompatible, Graded, 3,4-dihydroxy phenyl Chitosan (BGC) bioadhesive designed to meet these needs. Although 3,4-Dihydroxy Phenyl chitosan (DP-chitosan) bioadhesives are biocompatible, their adhesion strength is low; soluble oxidants or crosslinking agents can be added for higher bonding strength, but this sacrifices biocompatibility. We overcame these challenges by developing a periodate-modified ion exchange resin-bead filtration system that oxidizes catechol moieties to quinones and filters off the activating agent and resin. The resulting BGC bioadhesive exhibited 6-fold higher strength compared to commercially available tissue adhesives, with strength in the range necessary to improve tendon-to-bone repair (∼1MPa, ∼20% of current suture repair strength). The bioadhesive was biocompatible and promoted tenogenesis; cells exposed to the bioadhesive demonstrated enhanced expression of collagen I and the tenogenic marker Scx. Results demonstrate that the bioadhesive has the potential to improve the strength of a tendon-to-bone repair and promote healing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.