Effect of xanthan gum on the prevention of intra-abdominal adhesion in rats

Abstract Postoperative adhesions remain a significant concern following abdominal surgery. Polymer barriers are widely used to prevent adhesions, although none have been able to completely prevent adhesions in all situations. Therefore, it is still crucial to develop new products that are effective in a variety of surgical applications. In this study, XG with different concentrations (0.5%–2%, w/v) and molecular weight ( M w ) (2.5 × 10 6  Da–6.9 × 10 6  Da) were prepared to estimate their potential application as an injectable tissue adhesion barrier. The results showed that XG exerts an anti-adhesion effect in the rat abdominal cavity. For XG with M w of 5.5 × 10 6  Da, a 1% or greater concentration was needed to form a gel with required effect as an anti-adhesion agent. The 1% XG gel with high M w (6.9 × 10 6  Da) was more effective for the prevention of adhesions compared to a commercially available gel (1.2% sodium hyaluronate). Histological and cytotoxic evaluation demonstrated that XG gel showed no side effect during wound healing, and had no in vitro cytotoxicity to L929 cells. Moreover, rheological analysis was conducted to correlate the anti-adhesion effect with the rheological behavior of XG gels. This investigation suggests that XG has good potential value in intra-abdominal adhesion prevention.