Feasibility Study of Corn- and Soy-Derived Materials - Medical Devices and Biomaterials for the Developing World - page 66

Chapter 5
Feasibility Study of Corn- and Soy-Derived
Materials

The first line of questioning related to the plausibility of an industry for syntheto-natural
biomaterials, particularly for use in a clinical setting, is whether such materials are
compatible with various human tissues. The answer to this question determines both
whether further inquiry is warranted and which, if any, clinical applications are
possible. Four cell lines were considered in this study (see Table 5.1 ).

Biocompatibility Testing Method

The biocompatibility testing protocol used in this study is as follows:

1. Obtain a 1 cm 2 square sample of material to be tested
2. Place samples in separate wells of a 6-well plate
3. Sterilize the 6-well plate under UV light for 30 minutes
4. Seed cells into each well at a density of 50,000 cells per well
5. Image cells after 24, 48, and 72 h

All cell lines except for the cardiac fibroblast line were obtained from American
Type Culture Collection (ATCC). The cardiac fibroblasts were taken directly from
rat hearts. Each cell line was cultured at 37 °C in a 5% (v/v) CO 2 incubator in media
according to the recipes listed in Table 5.1 . After growing cell lines up to a reason-
able scale, cells from three of the four lines under study were incubated with the
PLLA and soybean fibers in 6-well plates (see Fig. 5.1 ). The cardiac fi broblasts
were incubated with soybean fibers.
The corn biocompatibility tests were performed using a control and two different
concentrations of PLLA (6 and 7-8%). The soy tests were performed using a 36%
soybean fi ber material (Fig. 5.2 ). 1

1 36% Soybean protein fiber, 36% cotton, 28% nylon.