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7069973 
Journal Article 
Neovascularization of synthetic membranes directed by membrane microarchitecture 
Brauker, JH; Carr-Brendel, VE; Martinson, LA; Crudele, J; Johnston, WD; Johnson, RC; , 
1995 
1 
Journal of Biomedical Materials Research
ISSN: 0021-9304
EISSN: 1097-4636 
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC 
NEW YORK 
1517-1524 
English 
8600142 
WOS:A1995TG45900008 
Transplantation of tissues enclosed within a membrane device designed to protect the cells from immune rejection (immunoisolation) provides an opportunity to treat a variety of disease conditions. Successful implementation of immunoisolation has been hampered by the foreign-body reaction to biomaterials. We screened a variety of commercially available membranes for foreign-body reactions following implantation under the skin of rats. Histologic analysis revealed that neovascularization at the membrane-tissue interface occurred in several membranes that had pore sizes large enough to allow complete penetration by host cells (0.8-8 microns pore size). When the vascularization of the membrane-tissue interface of 5-microns-pore-size polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes was compared to 0.02-microns-pore-size PTFE membranes, it was found that the larger pore membranes had 80-100-fold more vascular structures. The increased vascularization was observed even though the larger pore membrane was laminated to a smaller pore inner membrane to prevent cell entry into the prototype immunoisolation device. This significantly higher level of vascularization was maintained for 1 year in the subcutaneous site in rats.