In vitro and in situ intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expressionby endothelial cells lining a polyester fabric

In order to improve long-term patency of vascular grafts, the promising con cept of endothelial cell seeding is actually under investigation. Our labor atory tested a polyester coated with albumin and chitosan which permits a r apid colonization by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and it seems relevant to test in vitro the expression of adhesive molecules expres sed by cells with regard to the inflammatory process. We studied intercellu lar adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression and focused our work on the det ermination of ICAM-1 sites expressed per adherent cell lining the biomateri al, thus in situ, in comparison to control HUVEC on plastic wells: the resu lts obtained by binding experiments were correlated to flow cytometry analy ses and showed that the polyester does not induce a proinflammatory state a nd that HUVEC covering the structure are able to respond to a stimulus. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.