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Updated: Oct 9, 2026
Surgical Technique for the Implantation of Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts and Subsequent In Vivo Monitoring
Published on: April 3, 2015
Evaluation of an in vitro endothelialized vascular graft under pulsatile shear stress with a novel radiolabeling
P Fernandez1, R Bareille, V Conrad
1Laboratoire de Biophysique, Université Victor Ségalen Bordeaux 2, France. u443@bordeaux.inserm.fr
Objective:
To improve the hemocompatibility of vascular grafts, endothelial cell (EC) seeding of biomaterials prior to implantation is critical. The current in vitro study was designed to investigate such a feasibility on a collagen-coated heparin-bonded graft and to evaluate cell detachment upon pulsatile shear stress.
Materials And Methods:
Endothelial cells (EA-hy-926) were seeded onto grafts. The endothelialization of the grafts was evaluated by the [3H]-thymidine incorporation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histological examinations. After in situ EC radiolabeling with a novel 99mTc technique, the prostheses were exposed to pulsatile shear stress (0.27 N/m2), mimicking the shear rate occurring in a superficial femoral artery, for 3 h in a flow circuit and EC loss quantified by gamma camera detection.
Results:
Complete EC coverage was achieved after 5 days. Three hours of artificial perfusion resulted in a low EC loss (12.9+/-0.8%, n = 7). SEM shows EC withstanding shear stress in valleys of prosthesis circumvolutions.
Conclusions:
These satisfactory results could be explained by the high affinity of EC for heparinized surfaces in addition to cell surface receptors involved in adhesion to collagen.
