A novel tissue-engineered devitalized vascular prosthesis

increase, whereas chemical stimulation with Th alone led to significant TF expression (4.9±0.3-fold). The combination of mechanical-chemical stimuli induced significantly higher TF expression than mechanical stresses alone. LF+Th, PF+Th and TFF+Th for 2 hours induced synergistically significant increased TF expression (16.6±1.7, 14.8±2.4, 17.4±1.0 fold, respectively). Furthermore, only TFF demonstrated significantly higher sustained TF expression after 6 hours exposure, both with and without Th. Conclusions: While uniform laminar flow resulted in transient TF expression, TFF, which is analogous to disturbed flow, induced sustained amplification of TF expression even in the presence of chemical stimuli. These results provide important insight into the role of inflammatory reactions in EC, as it relates to localization of atherosclerosis at sites of disturbed flow.