Key result
Aging of PET vascular prostheses explants demonstrated significant deterioration and high degradation of macromolecular weight compared with virgin prostheses due to random scission of ester linkages.
1H-NMR spectroscopy is a viable method to demonstrate that PET vascular prostheses undergo significant chemical aging and macromolecular weight degradation over time in vivo.
May signal need for long-term PET graft surveillance; animal data leaves open human durability and translation questions.
Trichloroacetyl isocyanate reacts rapidly and quantitatively with both acid and hydroxyl chain ends to form derivatives that can be readily determined by (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. This method provides a convenient mean for characterization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) end-groups. The (1)H-NMR spectroscopy has been applied to describe the chemical aging of the PET vascular prostheses by determination of the hydroxyl and carboxyl end-group concentrations and therefore the macromolecular weight. To validate (1)H-NMR results, we used chemical titration of the end-groups and classical viscosimetric method as complementary techniques. The analyses made on the explants of different lifetime demonstrated a significant deterioration compared with the virgin prostheses. A high degradation of macromolecular weight is observed. This phenomenon is explained by a random scission of the ester linkages.
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Chaouch et al. (2009) studied Aging of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) vascular prostheses. Aging (in vivo lifetime) vs. Virgin prostheses was evaluated on Macromolecular weight and end-group concentrations. Aging of PET vascular prostheses explants demonstrated significant deterioration and high degradation of macromolecular weight compared with virgin prostheses due to random scission of ester linkages.