The effect of radiographic contrast media on the morphology of human venous endothelial cells

Radiographic contrast media (RCM) can affect the morphology of red blood cells in very different ways but research on how they affect endothelial cell morphology is rudimentary. The effect of two conventional RCMs on human umbilical venous cells over the short term was studied in vitro under static conditions. Cell circumference length, the number of dissolved cell contacts and the number of denuded subendothelial matrix areas were interactively quantified by a computer imaging system after histochemical processing. 1.5 minutes after RCM exposure a significant effect of both RCMs on cell circumference length (CCL) compared to the control cells was evident (p=0.0001 each). The increase after iodixanol was larger than after iomeprol (p=0.0087). After five minutes of exposure, the CCL of exposed cells were significantly larger than those of control cells (p0.0001 each). The CCL after exposure hardly differed anymore at that time (iomeprol/iodixanol: p=0.0547), though cells exposed to iomeprol tended to be bigger. After both iomeprol (p0.0001) and iodixanol (p=0.0018), the number of dissolved cell contacts (DCC) increased compared to the control cells. The increases after either RCM were similar (p=0.9633). After five minutes of RCM exposure, the number of DCC was significantly higher than for the control cells (control/iomeprol: p0.0001; control/iodixanol: p=0.0012). After exposure to iodixanol, significantly fewer DCC were recorded than after iomeprol (p=0.0018). At 1.5 minutes after RCM exposure, the number of denuded subendothelial matrix areas (DSMA) in the cell layer increased both after iomeprol (p0.0002) and after iodixanol (p=0.0002) compared to the control cells. The increases with the two RCMs were similar (p=0.8618). After five minutes of exposure, the number of DSMA in the cell layer was significantly higher than for the control cells (control/iomeprol: p0.0001; control/iodixanol: p=0.0015). However, after iodixanol significantly fewer DSMA were recorded than after iomeprol (iomeprol/iodixanol: p=0.0353). The number of dissolved cell/cell contacts and the number of denuded subendothelial matrix areas in the confluent endothelial layer were significantly greater after exposing the endothelial cells for five minutes to iomeprol than after iodixanol.