A novel synthetic vascular prosthesis: effect of plasma protein adsorption on blood‐ and cyto‐compatibility

Abstract

The development of a genuinely functional small diameter vascular prosthesis remains one of the toughest problems in biomedical engineering. Most current small diameter vascular grafts fail because of thrombotic complications or neo-intimal hyperplasia. Here were present a novel synthetic vascular prosthesis with a polymer coated luminal surface. The coating can be tuned for its hydrophilicity by varying the molar ratio of the monomers, N-vinylpyrrolidinone and butyl-methacrylate. Additionally these polymeric coatings can be loaded with anticoagulant drugs, like heparin. Especially surface exposed heparin dramatically improved bloodcompatibility of the coating, reducing thrombin generation. For long-term functionality of vascular prostheses, formation of an endothelial cell layer is vital. In vitro, the hydrophobic coatings in particular supported formation of an endothelial cell layer. Upon adsorption of blood plasma proteins, endothelial cells grew equally well on all surfaces, irrespective of the hydrophilicity. It was found that high density lipoprotein (HDL) is responsible for transforming hydrophilic coatings into good cell-compatible surfaces. Furthermore, HDL can reduce surface-induced thrombin generation and therefore can be used to modify the lumen of a vascular prosthesis.Keywords

Towards a functional radiopaque hydrogel for nucleus pulposus replacement

“…The surfaces contain mostly live cells (green) and sporadically a dead cell (red). Although cells prefer more hydrophobic surfaces,24 some cell spreading on the surface can be observed. Only the new, crosslinked materials were evaluated, since the biocompatibility of N94 and H94 was already demonstrated in vivo in a mouse model, by subcutaneous implantation 15.…”