Endothelial cell labeling with indium-111-oxine as a marker of cell attachment to bioprosthetic surfaces.

Canine vascular endothelium labeled with indium-111-oxine was used as a marker of cell attachment to vascular prosthetic surfaces with complex textures. Primarily cultured and freshly harvested endothelial cells both took up the label rapidly. An average of 72% of a 32 micro Ci labeling dose was taken up by 1.5 X 10(6) cells in 10 min in serum-free medium. Over 95% of freshly labeled cells were viable by trypan blue tests and only 5% of the label was released after 1 h incubations at 37 degrees C. Labeled and unlabeled cells had similar rates of attachment to plastic dishes. Scanning electron microscopic studies showed that labeled cells retained their ability to spread on tissue culture dishes even at low (1%) serum levels. Labeled endothelial cells seeded onto Dacron or expanded polytetrafluoroethylene vascular prostheses by methods used in current surgical models could be identified by autoradiography of microscopic sections of the prostheses, and the efficiency of cell attachment to the prosthesis could be measured by gamma counting. Indium-111 labeling affords a simple and rapid way to measure initial cell attachment to, and distribution on, vascular prosthetic materials. The method could also allow measurement of early cell loss from a flow surface in vivo by using external gamma imaging.