Design and preparation of clot binding agent for PET vascular grafts

We prepared amphiphilic clots binders consisting of acylated gelatin to improve the functions of PET vascular grafts by a novel synthetic method by which we obtained the acylated gelatin under mild reaction conditions. We find that the acylated gelatin is one of a thermoreversible gel forming materials. When the gel is cast on a PET film, it is found that the resultant gel tightly stuck on the PET surface that suggests the acyl groups strongly interact with the PET film by the hydrophobic interaction. Although the existence of the hydrophobic groups, the surface of the acylated gelatin gel is entirely hydropholic. We also find that the melting temperatures of the acylated gelatin gels are rather higher than that of original gelatin gels that suggests the cross linking regions of the acylated gelatin gel may be stabilized by the hydrophobic interactions between acyl groups. These results indicate that the acylation of gelatin causes the preferable changes to the gelatin gel as a clot binding agent for PET vascular grafts.