In vitro attachment of endothelial cells to different graft materials.

The purpose of this study was to compare the degree of endothelial cell attachment to different synthetic vascular graft materials. Human microvessel endothelial cells were labelled with indium-111-oxine, injected into 9 different vascular grafts and left to adhere for 40 min. Unattached cells were removed and radioactivity of the grafts measured. Grafts were flushed with 20 ml phosphate-buffered saline during 5 s to remove cells with poor attachment and radioactivity was measured again. Attachment differed between the grafts. In order of decreasing attachment the grafts were albumin-coated Dacron (47%), preclotted Dacron (35-44%), gelatin-coated Dacron (20%), gelatin-coated polyurethane (17%), collagen-coated Dacron (12%), preclotted expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE; 3%). Albumin-coated Dacron showed the highest degree of cell attachment of ePTFE the lowest. Statistically significant differences exist between ePTFE and all other grafts and between albumin-coated and collagen-coated Dacron, gelatin-coated polyurethane and gelatin-coated Dacron.