Fascia Lata Xenograft for ACL Replacement

Autologous patellar tendon grafts are the current gold standard for replacement of irreparable anteligaments. Allogeneic tissue grafts are the only accepted alternative to autologous grafts and theysupply. We will develop a non-immunogenic bovine fascia lata as a graft material for anterior cruciagrafts will be rendered non-immunogenic by in vitro processing. The resulting collagen tissue matrixbiomechanically sound, and will act as a scaffold for recipient fibroblast repopulation. These approprocessing will avoid use of materials which may have been responsible for effusions in the knees ofbovine xenografts. In Phase I of this project we will optimize methods for removal of cells and solufascia lata and determine immunogenicity by subcutaneous implantation in rabbits. We will prepare aapplication in which bovine fascia lata is assessed as an anterior cruciate ligament replacement inprocedures and instruments for implantation and fixation of fascia lata grafts are already availablepreviously been developed for implantation of allogeneic fascia lata.