Conduite in vitro d'une étude de biocompatibilité pour la confection d'un substitut vasculaire bioartificiel de petit calibre

Abstract

The present study describes the different stages in the evaluation of the development of a vascular prosthesis, an approach that requires the combination of artificial components of synthetic or natural origin and a cellular component, i.e., the vascular endothelium. The results of the most recent clinical trials reported in the literature — on condition that the endothelial coating is complete at the time of implantation — demonstrate that this new approach is quite feasible. The different steps presented in the study are the following: i) choice of a suitable biomaterial capable of promoting in vitro endothelialization, determined via cytocompatibility studies using cultured endothelial cells; ii) study of the endothelial cell phenotype at the biomaterial/cell interface (assessment of the production and function of two key proteins involved in hemostatic balance, quantification of an adhesion molecule expressed on the endothelial cell membrane, involved in leucocyte recruitement in the case of an inflammatory syndrome; iii) study of the development of the neo-endothelium under shear stress conditions and by radioactive measurement after the in situ radiolabeling of the cellular monolayers.