Derivation of human microvascular endothelial cells for prosthetic vascular graft seeding

This report summarizes our techniques and experiences deriving microvascular endothelial cells from fat for vascular graft seeding in 17 patients. Microvascular endothelial cells were derived from abdominal wall fat by collagenase incubation. The mean number of cells obtained using the described procedure was 6.83 x 10(5) cells/gram of fat processed. Histologic evaluation of the harvested cells revealed significant numbers of contaminating cell types in addition to Factor VIII-positive microvascular endothelial cells. These cells were seeded onto 6 mm ID PTFE vascular grafts in patients undergoing peripheral vascular arterial revascularization. The mean number of seeded cells was 8.04 x 10(6) cells/graft. Approximately 90 minutes were required to harvest and isolate the microvascular cells from the fat samples. We feel there are significant technical advantages to deriving endothelial cells from microvessels of human fat for vascular graft seeding.