517 lntegrated low energy adhesion technique for living tissue : The change of coUagens geometric structures with heating and pressing

We have developed a method that allows biological tissues to adhere together with minimal invasion by delivering integrated low-level energies such as heat, pressure, and vibration. The adhesion mechanism was investigated by observing collagen fibril's change under the influence of heat by atomic force microscopy. When collagen fibrils were treated with heat at temperature of 120C in dehydrated environment, some collagen fibrils with 1000 nm were imaged. The results indicated that application of heat leads to aggregate collagen fibrils in dehydrated environment. When application of pressure of 2.5 MPa was applied on a specimen of a porcine aorta, the mean dewatering ratio was 53.0%. This results indicated that the environment around the collagen fibers got close to dehydrated condition with the application of pressure. So we think that simultaneous application of heat and pressure on biological tissues lead to the collagen fibers' aggregation and to adhere biological tissues together tenaciously.