Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Neomycin Enhances Glutaraldehyde Crosslinking And Glycosaminoglycan Stability In Bioprosthetic Heart Valves, Vincent Friebe

All Theses

The native heart valve will open and close an astonishing 3 billion times in the average lifetime, implicating immense biomechanical ramifications that necessitate near-flawless structure and functional behavior. Deviations from this idyllic function as a result of heart valve disease (HVD) affect millions of individuals worldwide and result in over 275,000 heart valve replacements worldwide every year. Glutaraldehyde (GLUT) cross-linked porcine aortic heart valves, a common type of bioprosthetic heart valve (BHV), are used frequently in these valve replacement surgeries. The native valve leaflets entail a tri-composite design of type I collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), each of which are …