Processing Tissue Utilizing Supercritical Fluid
A method for processing animal-derived tissue and cross-linking animal-derived tissue is disclosed. Each method includes exposing or contacting the animal-derived tissue with a supercritical fluid.
1 . A method comprising:
contacting at least one animal-derived tissue with a supercritical fluid;
processing the animal-derived tissue with the supercritical fluid; and,
recovering the processed animal-derived tissue.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the supercritical fluid is selected from the group consisting of supercritical nitrogen dioxide, supercritical carbon dioxide, and combinations thereof.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the animal-derived tissue comprises proteins, peptides, polysaccharides and combinations thereof.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the animal-derived tissue comprises collagen.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein processing the animal-derived tissue comprises the step of extracting small molecules from the animal-derived tissue.
6 . A method comprising:
dissolving a cross-linking agent in a supercritical fluid;
contacting at least one animal-derived tissue with the supercritical fluid;
cross-linking the animal-derived tissue with the cross-linking agent; and,
recovering the cross-linked animal-derived tissue.
7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the supercritical fluid is selected from the group consisting of supercritical nitrogen dioxide, supercritical carbon dioxide, and combinations thereof.
8 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the animal-derived tissue comprises proteins, peptides, polysaccharides, and combinations thereof.