Evaluation of immunoreactivity of in vitro and in vivo models against bacterial synthesized cellulose to be used as a prosthetic biomaterial

Prosthetic biomaterials are required to be non-toxic, non-thrombogenic, and non-immunogenic. Bacterial cellulose (BC) synthesized by Gluconacetobacter xylinus has recently been studied as a biocompatible material due to its unique features such as high purity, crystallinity, biodegradability, and tensile strength as compared to plant cellulose. Although BC has high potential to be used as biomaterial, its toxicity and immunoreactivity have not been properly studied yet. In this report, we investigated the immunoreactivity of BC in vitro in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and in vivo using BALB/c mice. We report that BC does not induce apoptosis and necrosis in HUVECs and does not stimulate immune response in both HUVECs and BALB/c mice models. These results suggest that BC may be widely used as a biocompatible biomaterial for tissue engineering and biosensors.