Hydraulic conductivity and low-density lipoprotein transport of the venous graft wall in an arterial bypass

Abstract

Abstract Background Blood flow condition may have influence upon the hydraulic conductivity of venous graft (L p,vein) in an arterial bypass, then affecting the accumulation of low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) within the graft wall. To probe this possibility, we first measured in vitro the filtration rates of swine lateral saphenous vein segments under different flow rates, and the correlation of L p,vein with wall shear stress (WSS) was then obtained. Results The experimental results showed that when WSS was very low, L p,vein would increase drastically with WSS from 1.16 ± 0.15 × 10−11 m/s Pa at 0 dyn/cm2 to 2.17 ± 0.20 × 10−11 m/s Pa at 0.7 dyn/cm2, then became constant of approximately 2.33 × 10−11 m/s Pa as the WSS increased further. Based on the experimental results, we assumed three different cases of L p,vein and numerically simulated the LDLs transport in an arterial bypass model with venous graft. Case A: L p,vein = 2.33 × 10−11 m/s Pa; Case B: L p,vein = 1.16 × 10−11 m/s Pa (static condition with WSS of 0); Case C: L p,vein was shear dependent. The simulation showed that the deposition/accumulation of LDLs within the venous graft wall in Case A was greatly enhanced when compared with that in Case B. However, the LDL accumulation in the graft wall was similar for Case A and Case C. Conclusions Our study, therefore, indicates that when the venous graft was implanted as a bypass graft, the L p,vein might remain nearly constant along its whole length except for very few areas where the value of WSS was extremely low (less than 0.7 dyn/cm2) and the effects of L p,vein modulated by blood flow on LDL transport may be neglected.

Keywords

• Venous graft
• Low-density lipoprotein
• Hydraulic conductivity
• Wall shear stress