Mechanical and in-vitro studies of biodegradable chitosan/cissus quadrangularis coated flax sutures for anterior cruciate ligaments repair

In this investigation, the mechanical and In Vitro studies of chitosan/ cissus quadrangularis (CHCQ) coated braided flax sutures are carried out to explore their application towards repairing the anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL). The 5% (w/w of suture) mixture of Chitosan (CH) and quadrangularis extract (CQ) was applied on the braided suture. Chitosan (CH) and quadrangularis (CQ) mixtures were prepared in different weight ratios such as 4:1 (CHCQ41), 3:2 (CHCQ32), 1:1 (CHCQ11), and 2:3 (CHCQ23) for experimental work. These mixtures were coated on the suture using the pad-batch technique. GC-MS analysis found that cissus quadrangularis extract containing Caffeine and Phytol with the ratio of 3.20% and 15.98%. These petrochemicals are essential for muscle relaxation, pain reliever, and strengthening the immune system. Through Scanning electron microscopy analysis, It was found that with the incorporation of chitosan polymer, the surface fibrils in the suture are wrapped into the core and shown as an effective biocomposite suture. Most of the samples have displayed ultimate tensile stress between 2846 N to 2865 N, which is higher than the human ACL. The Stiffness of the suture samples varied from 437 to 471 N/mm, and the elongation of the suture samples was between the range of 34%–36%. Similarly, the knot pull strength of the suture samples varied from 241 to 243 Mpa. CHCQ11&CHCQ23 has shown maximum functional performance among the different suture samples due to higher Cissus quadrangularis proportion. MTT on cell viability assay sample CHCQ11&CHCQ23 have shown higher cell growth and proliferation by identifying its optical density value after the fifth day was 0.63 and 0.65. Similarly, the hemolytic percent is also higher for CHCQ11&CHCQ23 with 0.7 and 0.8 Hg%.