An In Vitro Model of a Parallel-Plate Perfusion System to Study Bacterial Adherence to Graft Tissues

Various valved conduits and stent-mounted valves are used for right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) valve replacement in patients with congenital heart disease. When using prosthetic materials however, these grafts are susceptible to bacterial infections and various host responses. Identification of bacterial and host factors that play a vital role in endovascular adherence of microorganisms is of importance to better understand the pathophysiology of the onset of infections such as infective endocarditis (IE) and to develop preventive strategies. Therefore, the development of competent models to investigate bacterial adhesion under physiological shear conditions is necessary. Here, we describe the use of a newly designed in vitro perfusion chamber based on parallel plates that allows the study of bacterial adherence to different components of graft tissues such as exposed extracellular matrix, endothelial cells and inert areas. This method combined with colony-forming unit (CFU) counting is adequate to evaluate the propensity of graft materials towards bacterial adhesion under flow. Further on, the flow chamber system might be used to investigate the role of blood components in bacterial adhesion under shear conditions. We demonstrated that the source of tissue, their surface morphology and bacterial species specificity are not the major determining factors in bacterial adherence to graft tissues by using our in-house designed in vitro perfusion model.