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Fibroblast and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Coating of Decellularized Vascular Grafts Stimulates Undesired Giant Cells and Graft Encapsulation in a Rat Model
Author(s) -
Heidenhain Christoph,
Veeravoorn Ariyakhagorn,
Vachkov Blagovest,
Weichert Wilko,
Schmidmaier Gerhard,
Wildemann Britt,
Neuhaus Peter,
Heise Michael
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
artificial organs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1525-1594
pISSN - 0160-564X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1594.2010.01072.x
Subject(s) - decellularization , vascular endothelial growth factor , fibroblast growth factor , vascular graft , chemistry , fibroblast , angiogenesis , microbiology and biotechnology , vegf receptors , biomedical engineering , surgery , tissue engineering , medicine , biology , cancer research , biochemistry , in vitro , receptor
Replacing an infected prosthesis with a bioimplant provides a hopeful alternative in septic vascular surgery. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of fibroblast endothelial growth factors (FGF) and vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) coating on a decellularized vascular graft in a rat model and the possible impact on recellularization processes. Rat aortas were decellularized, crosslinked with genipin, and coated with poly‐(D, L) lactide containing either FGF or VEGF. Observation periods were 6 and 12 weeks. Surprisingly, we found moderate accumulation of giant cells around the grafts that contained poly‐(D, L) lactide acid. FGF and VEGF grafts showed massive stimulation of giant cells and eosinophils leading to complete graft encapsulation ( P < 0.05). Pseudointmal hyperplasia was significantly increased in the FGF group ( P < 0.05). Both results can only be interpreted as very negative. We achieved a situation in diametric opposition to that which we had hoped for. These data demonstrate that the use of growth factors may produce harmful side effects.