Endothelial cell adhesion to vascular prosthetic surfaces

Abstract

Improving the long term patency of small diameter prosthetic grafts remains an important but elusive objective in vascular surgery. In pursuit of a non-thrombogenic surface, we have cultured human-adult endothelial cells, examined their adhesive properties and their ability to colonize the inner surface of a Dacron® graft. To examine cell adhesion, endothelial cells were labelled with 111In-oxine and inoculated onto prosthetic wells previously prepared with either cold insoluble globulin (CIG), 1 % gelatin, alginate or left untreated as a control. At 100 min, mean percentage adhesion to CIG and gelatin precoated wells was 86.0 ± 9.9% (± sd) and 81.6 ± 2.9% respectively, whereas alginate at 57.5 ± 7.5% and the control well at 48.3 ± 9.9% showed significantly less adhesion. Further experiments examined the adhesion of Indiumoxine labelled endothelial cells to Dacron® graft (2 cm × 6 mm id) placed in an in vitro arterial circuit. An immediate loss of approximately 20% of the cells occurred within the first 30 s, whereafter, a stable population were adherent to the graft material. By 102 min, 73.4 ± 1.8% of cells remained attached when exposed to tissue culture medium, but only 64.1 ± 6.9% after exposure to blood. Cultured human adult endothelial cells adhere most effectively to prosthetic surfaces precoated with CIG or gelatin, and remain attached following exposure to shear forces.