Fig. 4

Cytotoxicity, degradation and histocompatibility of sutures. A 3T3 growth on the suture and no suture group within 72 hours (n = 3). After 1, 2 and 3 days in the experimental group (medium soaked with DCDS suture) and the control group (pure medium) (a1), and 3T3 cells grew on the IDCM (a2, 3). B IDCM and catgut suture subcutaneous implantation in rats(b1). The experimental group for IDCM and the control group for catgut sutures. The implantation of IDCM (5 ✕ 5 mm) and catgut sutures (10 ✕ 0.26 mm) shown in b2, b4, and the IDCM and catgut sutures shown in b3, b5. IDCM implanted in tissue samples were visually observed (C), on measuring paper (D) and observed with SEM (E) after 2, 4, 8 and 16 weeks, compared with catgut sutures (F-H) at the same time points. The HE staining of the rat IDCM (I) and catgut sutures (J) after 1 day, 1 week, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. At each time point, 4 positions (up, down, left and right) around the implants were selected for inflammatory cells count (K) (n = 4)