Immediate Seeding of Enzymatically Derived Endothelium in Dacron Vascular Grafts

Abstract

Twenty-eight adult dogs underwent thoracoabdominal bypass with 6-mm double-velour Dacron grafts. The experimental grafts were seeded immediately prior to implantation with enzymatically harvested endothelial cells. Endothelial cells were procured from autologous external jugular vein segments using 0.1% trypsin and 0.5% collagenase solutions. Unseeded grafts served as controls. The grafts were studied from one to 28 days after implantation. The seeded grafts exhibited greater than 80% uniform luminal coverage with endothelial cells at day 28. Immunofluorescent microscopy was used to confirm the presence of endothelium. The experimental grafts studied at the two time periods of one to seven days and 14 to 28 days had 94.6% and 88.5% clot-free surfaces, respectively. The control grafts studied during similar periods had 81.0% and 40.1% clot-free surfaces. These differences were significant at the 14- to 28-day period.