Endothelial cell seeding of damaged native vascular surfaces: prostacyclin production

Endothelial cell seeding has been successful in reducing the thrombogenicity of prosthetic vascular grafts in animal and clinical studies. The reduction in thrombogenicity may be attributed to the intrinsic properties of endothelial cells themselves, and their ability to produce anti-thrombogenic mediators such as prostacyclin, and endothelium-derived relaxing factor. Endothelial seeding of damaged vascular surfaces produced during percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and endarterectomy is an attractive possibility due to the excellent attachment characteristics of the sub-endothelial tissue exposed during these procedures. The ability of endothelial seeded damaged vascular surfaces to produce prostacyclin was measured in an in vitro model of vascular injury. Endothelial-seeded damaged surfaces produced significantly higher prostacyclin release than did vessels damaged by balloon dilatation (265.5 pg cm-2 min-1 and 87.5 pg cm-2 min-1 respectively). This study provides evidence that endothelial seeding of damaged native vascular surfaces is technically feasible and that seeding may reduce the thrombogenicity of vascular surfaces following balloon dilatation.