[Antithrombogenicity of human endothelial cells]

In the preceeding decades, our understanding of the complexity in our haemostaseologic system has been evolutionized from a purely ex vivo standpoint to an increasingly in vivo oriented approach, by more and more respecting the immense metabolic interactions of our vascular endothelium, mainly thrombin, the central serine protease in our coagulatory system. So far, investigations concerning human endothelium only relied on experiments with embryonic human endothelial cells, derived from umbilical cord veins. The underlying investigation confronts the justified question about the transferability of such embryonic results to the adult vascular system.

Micro- and macrovascular endothelial cells were isolated, purified and propagated in pure cultures. Integrated into an established filtration model, their potential to mediate antithrombogenicity was investigated.

Surprisingly, immense differences in thrombin-induced antithrombogenicity were demonstrated. This justifies doubts concerning the transferability of HUVEC-based results to the whole human vascular system.