Ex-vivo endothelium-stent contact model
Scope of the method
- Human health
- Basic Research
- In vitro - Ex vivo
- Animal derived cells / tissues / organs
Description
- endothelial dysfunction
- coronary stent
- reactive oxygen species
- oxidative stress
- nitric oxide
- corrosion
- biodegradable materials
- vascular tissue
- Material Science
- Toxicology
- cardiovascular
- biomaterials
- biocompatible
The ex-vivo endothelium-stent contact model allows measuring the impact of implants on the arterial tissue. The endothelium is directly exposed by inserting a wire made of the investigated material into the lumen of the aortic ring to mimic the contact between the coronary stent and the endothelium. The impact of degradation and corrosion products is evaluated by measuring the vasorelaxation induced by carbachol. Many fundamental aspects, such as endothelium dysfunction, oxidative stress and nitric oxide levels, can be evaluated with this assay. This method was developed for iron-based materials, but it may act as a point of reference for similar studies in other systems.
- Organ bath (for vasorelaxation analysis) ;
- PCR (for gene oxidative stress expression analysis) ;
- EPR (for nitric oxide production) ;
- WB (for protein analysis).
- Internally validated
Pros, cons & Future potential
- - Simple ;
- - Minimises the number of animals used per experiment ;
- - Avoids other variables such as the structure of the stent ;
- - There is a margin for the creativity as many changes can be made such as adding inducers/inhibitors to the system, using healthy or diseased tissue, or indirect exposure to the material.
Rat aortic rings can be maintained alive for a limited time (~10h).
- - Other materials ;
- - Similar studies in other systems.
References, associated documents and other information
Contact person
Eleonora ScarcelloOrganisations
Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL)IREC, LTAP
Belgium
Brussels Region