[Isolation and viability of human endothelial cells in tissue engineering]

Construction of human blood vessels by tissue engineering is strongly dependent of the use of viable and fully functional cultured endothelial cells (ECs). In this work, we have determined in a preliminary study both cell viability and PGI2 activity in primary cell cultures of human ubilical vein ECs, to identify the specific cell passage that is more appropriate to be used in tissue engineering protocols. Cell viability was determined by quantification of the intracellular cocnentration of several ions by electron probe X-ray microanalysis, whereas PGI2 release was quantified by radioimmunoassay. The results of our analyses demonstrate that the K/Na ratio was different for each cell passage, suggesting that the highest cell viability corresponds to the third passage. In contrast, PGI2 production was higher at the first two cell passages, with a significant decrease at the third passage. These data suggest that cells corresponding to the second cell passage show the best ratio viability/ functionality and should therefore be used for tissue engineering protocols.