A fibrin‐coated pericardial extracellular matrix prevented heart adhesion in a rat model

Abstract As most surgical treatments pose a risk of tissue adhesion, methods to prevent adhesion are needed across various surgical fields. In this study, we investigated the use of a decellularized pericardium with fibrin glue to prevent rat heart adhesion. Porcine pericardia were decellularized by a high‐hydrostatic pressure method. Cells adhered to the resulting pericardial extracellular matrix (ECM) during an in vitro cell‐seeding test, but fibrin‐coated pericardial ECM showed reduced cell adhesion. In a rat surgical model of heart adhesion, the fibrin‐coated pericardial ECM did not adhere to the heart and mesothelial cell adhesion was observed on the ECM surface. Notably, the anti‐adhesion effect of fibrin‐coated pericardial ECM was observed 4 weeks after surgery. These results support the utility of fibrin‐coated pericardial ECM as an adhesion prevention material for cardiovascular surgery. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 1088–1094, 2019.