Authors
Abstract
Introduction & Objective: The amniotic membrane (AM) has distinctive characteristics and potentials that make it a proper biomaterial for tissue engineering. There are varieties of methods for preserving the AM. In this study, the AM was preserved using different methods. The effect of preservation on tissue composition and physical and mechanical properties was compared between preserved and fresh samples of the AM.
Materials & Methods: The human AM was preserved after being detached from the placenta. It was preserved using either cryopreservation methods (in temperature of -80 ºC, for 6 months) or lyophilization. The preserved AM was histologically assessed using light and electronic microscopy. Mechanical tolerance of the preserved AM was also measured using uniaxial tension test, suture retention test and thickness calculation.
Results: This study showed that the value of Fmax and elongation at break in the cryopreserved and lyophilaized AM was smaller than the same value in the fresh AM samples. All of the samples had same tolerance in suture retention test, although lyophilaized samples of the AM were thinner than other types of the samples. Tissue composition (histological properties) regarding epithelial cells and tissue layers of the AM were not the same in different samples.
Conclusion: Cryopreservation and lyophilization as two preservation methods of the AM, can affect the tissue composition and physical and mechanical features of the AM. Thus the preservation method for the AM can be chosen regarding the final usage of the AM as a biomaterial.
Keywords
)