Jp. Mazzucotelli et al., HUMAN VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS ON EXPANDED PTFE PRECOATED WITH AN ENGINEERED PROTEIN ADHESION FACTOR, International journal of artificial organs, 17(2), 1994, pp. 112-117
To elucidate the role of the molecular structure of adhesive proteins
in an endothelialization of synthetic vascular prosthesis in vitro, a
recombinant fibronectin-like engineered adhesion factor (FP) construct
ed from the specific Arg-Gly-Asp cell adhesion repeats was assayed as
adhesive substrate to culture human saphenous vein endothelial cells o
n ePTFE. ePTFE samples (I cm(2)) inserted into cell culture chambers w
ere coated by incubation with increasing amounts of FP (up to 100 mu g
/cm(2)) prior to cell seeding. At 24 hours after low density cell seed
ing and 20 mu g/ml/cm(2) FP concentration, the number of adhered cells
reached a plateau and the adhered cells did not proliferate up to 6 d
ays of culture. At 24 hours after high density seeding (10(5) cells/cm
(2)), the number of adhered cells was significantly higher on ePTFE wi
th preadsorbed FP than on fibronectin coated PTFE. About 55% of the in
itially adhered cells survived up to 7 days on FP, whereas cell debris
and free nuclei were predominant on fibronectin coated PTFE. In the i
nvestigated model the engineered RGD polymer potentialized a short-ter
m adhesion of vascular endothelial cells to PTFE, nevertheless it did
not ensure proliferation and long-term survival of these cells.