Endothelialization of decellularized bovine jugular vein

Abstract

Objective Seeding cells derived from receivers on the surface of natural vascular grafts for the construction of tissue-engineered vessels represents a new bold in the tissue reconstruction field.This technique accelerates the remodeling or self-repair of tissue-engineered blood vessels in addition to reducing or obviating thromboembolism and excessive proliferation of the neointima induced by autologous vessels,allografts or incompetence heterologous vascular grafts.Reseeding of endothelial cells is the most important cell-seeding technique and has been widely studied.Our study is to investigate the feasibility for re-seeding deceUularized bovine jugular veins with endothelial cells that have been differentiated from human bone mesenchymal stem cells(BMSCs).Methods Scaffolds (n=6) derived from bovine jugular veins with decellularization technique were reseeded with BMSCs-derived endothelial cells in vitro and cultured in static conditions for 3 days.Then the reseeded scaffold conduits (n=3) were connected to a conventional vascular perfusion culture system in vitro in nutrient media for additional 4 days.Controls (n=3) were cultured in static nutrient media accordingly.Morphologic features of the generated tissues were observed with pathological techniques and scanning electron microscopy.Results Microscopic examination performed 7 days after static seeding of the deceUularized scafflods identified endothelial cells,which were polygonal-shaped and randomly oriented,and formed a confluent monolayer on the surface of the vein walls.Scanningelectron microscopy revealed round endothelial cells on the graft surface.No cell of any type had penetrated through acellular matrix.Four days after perfusion with culture medium,approximately 50% of the cells that exhibited a characteristically spindle shape withelongated bipolar were still attached to the lurmnal surface of the graft wall and aligned in the direction of flow.Conclusion The factthat endothelial seed cells derived from BMSCs grew and proliferated on the deceUularized bovine jugular veins,forming a continuousmonolayer of cells,and approximately 50% of the cells remained attachment to the veins after a dynamic cultural period of 4 days,suggested that deceUularized bovine jugular veins have good biocompatibility and that the differentiated endothelial cells originated fromBMSCs have well-established growth and adhesion potential as seed cells. Key words: Blood vessel prosthesis; Stents; Stem cells; Endothelium,vascular; Tissue engineering; Bovine jugular vein