Glycolmethacrylate Is Superior to Methylmethacrylate for Histologic Evaluation of Biodegradable Polymer Scaffolds Used for Vascular Tissue Engineering

Abstract

The use of autologous arteries or veins is the “gold standard” for cardiovascular bypass grafting to repair congenital defects or diseased vessels. Nonetheless, a limited supply of healthy vessels for harvest necessitates the use of alternative graft materials. Biodegradable, tissue-engineering scaffolds offer much promise as a grafting material. However, to fully evaluate the efficacy of these scaffolds, multiple analyses must be performed, including histological evaluation. Routine processing and embedding in paraffin may not adequately infiltrate and support biodegradable scaffolds; therefore, alternate processing methods, such as plastic embedding, must be considered to produce high-quality histological sections. Here, we compare two methods for embedding scaffolds in plastic, using either glycolmethacrylate or methylmethacrylate. Overall, we found that glycolmethacrylate embedding and associated processing techniques were clearly superior to methylmethacrylate procedures as illustrated by intact sections with nicely preserved cells. (The J Histotechnol 29:245, 2006)

Submitted October 1, 2006; accepted with revisions October 30. 2006

Keywords:

• GMA
• MMA
• blood vessels
• biodegradable scaffolds
• tissue engineering
• tissue regeneration
• histology