InVitro Biocompatibility Evaluation of Acellular Porcine Dura mater Grafts and Native Dura

Abstract Damage to the dura mater may occur during intracranial or spinal surgeries, which can result in cerebrospinal fluid leakage as well as other potentially fatal physiological changes. As a result, biological scaffolds derived from xenogeneic materials are typically used to repair and regenerate dura mater post intracranial or spinal surgeries. The extracellular matrix of xenogeneic dura scaffolds has been shown to exhibit better cell infiltration and regeneration than synthetic material. In this study, we investigated the biocompatibility of native and decellularized porcine dura. Cell proliferation, cell viability, and mechanical properties of dural grafts were evaluated post re-seeding on days 3,7, and 14. Live-dead staining and resazurin salts were used to quantify cell viability and cell proliferation, respectively. Micro indentation was conducted to quantify the mechanical integrity of the native and acellular dura graft. The results show that the acellular porcine dural graft provides a favorable environment for rat fibroblast cell infiltration. Cell viability, proliferation, and micro indentation results on the acellular grafts are comparable with the native control porcine dura tissue. In conclusion, the porcine scaffold material showed increasing viable cells at each time point. The mechanics and biocompatibility results provide promising insight into the potential use of porcine dura in future cranial dura mater graft applications.