摘要 |
The invention provides an article of manufacture comprising a substantially non-immunogenic ligament or tendon xenograft for implantation into humans. The invention further provides a method for preparing a ligament xenograft by removing at least a portion of an ligament from a non-human animal to provide a xenograft; washing the xenograft in saline and alcohol; subjecting the xenograft to at least one treatment selected from the group consisting of exposure to ultraviolet radiation, immersion in alcohol, ozonation, freeze/thaw cycling, and optionally chemical crosslinking. In addition to or in lieu of the above treatments, the methods include a cellular disruption treatment and glycosidase digestion of carbohydrate moieties of the xenograft followed by treatment of carbohydrate moieties of the xenograft with capping molecules. The invention also provides articles of manufacture produced by one or more of the above-identified methods of the invention. The invention further provides a ligament xenograft for implantation into a human including a portion of a ligament from a non-human animal, wherein the portion includes extracellular components and substantially only dead cells. The extracellular components and dead cells have substantially no surface alpha-galactosyl moieties and have capping molecules linked to at least a portion of surface carbohydrate moieties. Each of the xenografts of the invention is substantially non-immunogenic and has substantially the same mechanical properties as the respective native ligament.
|