The Pathogenesis of Suture Toxicity

The ability of both silk and nylon suture to activate the acute inflammatory pathways was evaluated by comparative γ-globulin binding of the two sutures. Quantitative binding was determined by the amount of radioisotopically labeled IgG was bound by segments of silk and nylon suture; qualitative binding was evaluated by absorption of fluorescein-labeled human γ-globulin and complement. These studies indicated that silk suture has a marked propensity over nylon to bind γ-globulin and that silk suture bound considerably more protein than nylon suture.