The effects of different fixatives for immunofluorescent and immunoperoxidase localization of factor VIII-related antigen in canine carotid artery and vascular prostheses.

The evaluation of vascular grafts seeded with autologous endothelial cells requires a reliable method of endothelial cell identification. Previous attempts to identify positively tissue Factor VIII-related antigen, found in relatively large amounts in vascular endothelial cells, proved to be inconsistent when immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescent staining techniques were tried. Because the Factor VIII antigen is very labile, this study was performed to determine an optimal fixation technique for demonstrating this antigen in frozen sections of endothelial tissue. Unfixed, acetone-fixed, and formalin-fixed sections of canine carotid artery as well as vascular grafts fixed in 1-ethyl-3-(3-diaminopropyl)-carbodiimide were examined by an indirect immunofluorescence technique. Also, the immunoperoxidase method of Factor VIII identification was applied to unfixed, acetone-fixed, and carbodiimide-fixed endothelial cell seeded vascular grafts. Acetone was the preferred fixative, resulting in excellent antigen preservation with minimal background staining. The immunoperoxidase technique of Factor VIII-related antigen identification was found to be the method of choice because of its sensitivity.