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A new in vitromethod to evaluate the early critical interactions between synthetic prosthetic materials and growing tissues is reported. The correct spatial organization and proper cell to cell interaction required to mimic the in vivoenvironment was obtained in a 3-dimensional (3-D) embryo organ culture. The clot formed by plasma and chick-embryo extract provided a natural 3-D extracellular matrix that was able to support the growth and differentiation of intestinal tissue dissected from 12-day-old chick embryos. Different materials used for the repair of abdominal wall defects were taken as standards; all the prosthetic materials were devoid of any evident cytotoxic potential over a 10-day culture period, so they did not interfere with the organogenesis process. A polyglactin mesh (Vicryl®) was fully incorporated into the growing tissue, but early signs of its degradation were detectable. The biologically inert materials polyethylene terephthalate (Mersilene®) and polypropylene (Marlex®, Prolene®, and Herniamesh®) retained their structural integrity when incubated with cultured tissue at 37 °C, and they did not hinder cellular proliferation or fibroblast migration. However, the outgrowth behavior was very different while the connective tissue invaded the interstices of the polyethylene terephthalate mesh; the explants and the migrating cells were repelled by hydrophobic polypropylene meshes. These findings are in agreement with other reported results in in vivostudies. Therefore, this method can be considered as reliable and predictable for the evaluation of biopolymers. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res (Appl Biomater) 43: 204–209, 1998