Repairing damaged meningeal membranes has largely focused on implants (known as dural substitutes) which are grafted over damaged dura mater and are designed to replace and/or regenerate the damaged tissue. Current dural substitutes based on collagen matrices provide a good bioresorbable and safe substitute, compared to xenograft or allograft implants. Nevertheless, dural substitutes based on collagen matrices may display inferior mechanical properties such as short persistence, inferior tensile strength and low suture retention for use in infratentorial or spine areas. Synthetic dural substitutes may show improved mechanical and watertight properties, but generally are not absorbable, show a lack of conformability and are less easy to use.
The present disclosure relates to biocompatible and bioresorbable chitosan based implants having enhanced mechanical properties including increased suture anchoring strength and increased tensile strength. These enhanced mechanical properties may be achieved by controlling the pH during processing of the implant and may eliminate the need for a chemical cross-linking agent. The present matrices may be used in a variety of medical applications, including, for example surgical implants.