Endothelial cell (EC) seeding is postulated as a mechanism of improving patency in small caliber vascular grafts. However the majority of seeded EC are lost within 24 hours of restoration of blood flow in previous canine studies . We postulate that the cells have insufficient time to fully develop their attachment to the graft surface prior to exposure to hemodynamic stress. We allowed EC to incubate on fibronectin-coated ePTFE grafts for four different time periods after seeding and measured EC retention after perfusion in a canine ex vivo shunt circuit.Autologous canine EC, were enzymatically harvested, grown to confluence, and labeled with 30 μCi 111 Indium-oxine/80 cm 2 flask. Four groups of 5 cm x 4 mm ID ePTFE vascular prostheses were coated with 1.5 μg/cm.2 human fibronectin, and seeded with 1.5 x 105 EC/ cm.2. After seeding grafts in Group 1 were incubated in complete growth medium for 90 minutes, Group 2 were incubated for 24 hours, Group 3 for 72 hours and Group 4 for 6 days. Grafts were then placed in the canine ex vivo circuit, constructed between femoral artery and vein, and subjected to blood flow of 75 ml per minute for 6 hours. Continuous counting of γ-activity was made possible by placing the seeded graft inside the γ-counter detection crystal for the duration of perfusion. EC retention data after 30 minutes, 2 hours and 6 hours of flow are shown in the table.
Transforming growth factor beta stimulates the expression of fibronectin and of both subunits of the human fibronectin receptor by cultured human lung fibroblasts.
