title: Endothelial cell seeding with rotation of a ventricular blood sac.
abstract: Successful establishment of a durable endothelial cell (EC) monolayer inside a ventricular blood sac requires homogeneous coverage of the entire luminal surface with attached cells. For this purpose, a new device was developed that slowly rotates a fully assembled cardiac prosthesis with three degrees of freedom. We seeded ECs derived from human adipose tissue at a density of approximately 3.5 x 10(4) cells/cm2 onto the surfaces of polyurethane-made blood sacs and "ersatz" bladders (consisting of T-25 tissue culture flasks). The kinetics of cell attachment, spreading, and proliferation were determined using video microscopy combined with image analysis and cell viability assays. After 60 min of seeding at 5-10 rotations/hr, the plating efficiency inside the blood sacs was 35.7 +/- 11%, with cell viability remaining approximately 90 +/- 5%. After 3 hr, when the plating efficiency reached a plateau (approximately 70%), the rotation was stopped and the ECs were allowed to spread and proliferate under static conditions. Within 48 hr, the entire luminal surface was evenly covered by a confluent EC monolayer. Our long-term studies show that with a proper feeding schedule, such an EC monolayer can be maintained intact in vitro for more than 2 weeks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Milwaukee, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Wankowski
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Samet
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Nikolaychik
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Lelkes
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000098:blood supply; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D001769:Blood; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012399:Rotation