Preservation of Fundamental Molecular and Stromal Components via Retention Processing

Introduction: Growth factors, cytokines, and chemokines are key ele- ments associated with wound treatment modalities. Placental membrane grafts are used as wound coverings providing an optimal wound environ- ment. Previous techniques for producing these grafts show a loss in these beneficial properties by primarily focusing on removal of non-solid ma- trix components. In an effort to retain as much of the natural matrix as possible and to preserve the beneficial factors, a retention-based method was developed (BioREtain®), utilizing gentle processing. We tested the impact of this processing regime on stromal and molecular content. Methods: Five separate lots of retention-processed final product tri-layer amnion/chorion grafts (RE-AC) were assessed for structural components and molecular factors. This was achieved by histology, scan- ning electron microscopy (SEM), and cytokine analysis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Products were reported as amount of factor per cm2. Results: Data obtained from this study show the retention of structure as well as the preservation of numerous factors in RE-AC placental tissue grafts. It also shows the retention of components compared to the native tissue. Discussion: This study highlights the hypothesis that retention-based pro- cessing demonstrates conservation of structural and molecular components.