The strength of adhesive-bonded tissue joints

Bonds have been formed in vitro between pieces of porcine tissue (cartilage, bone and skin) with a range of commercially available surgical adhesives (cyanoacrylate, gelatin-based and fibrin). They were either butt joints or in a lap-shear configuration. These bonds were tested with a standard tensile test procedure and the strengths were measured. Bond strengths showed little dependence on the nature of the tissue, but were strongly dependent on the adhesive type. Orders of magnitude differences were seen, with strengths in the order: cyanoacrylate > gelatin/resorcinol/formaldehyde > gelatin/resorcinol/glyoxal = fibrin. Broad agreement was seen with literature results on similar systems. The appearance of the failures differed: cyanoacrylate was hard and brittle, while the others were softer and rubbery, like sealants. Mussel adhesion protein was also tested, but gave very poor results. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.