Circulating Endothelial-Associated Biomarker Responses During Beating-Heart Partial Versus Cardioplegic Total Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Juvenile Pigs: An Exploratory Comparative Study

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) alters blood flow patterns and may induce endothelial activation; however, the effects of different CPB configurations on endothelial-associated biomarkers remain unclear. In this exploratory pilot study, we compared circulating biomarkers and tissue immunohistochemical findings between beating-heart partial CPB and cardioplegic total CPB in juvenile pigs. Ten 8-week-old female crossbred piglets underwent partial CPB with continued cardiac beating (n = 5) or total CPB with aortic cross-clamping and cardioplegic arrest (n = 5) for 60 min. Serum vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), a disintegrin and metalloproteinase-17 (ADAM-17), and thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) concentrations were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and tissue VCAM-1 and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) were assessed immunohistochemically. At the end of the CPB procedure, serum VCAM-1 was higher in the total CPB group than in the partial CPB group (581 [339–759] ng/mL vs. 239 [224–304] ng/mL; |rank-biserial r| = 0.84 (95%CI, 0.36 to 1.00); Hodges–Lehmann estimate of the location shift = 341.7 ng/mL, 95% CI, 5.1–607.0 ng/mL; p = 0.03), whereas ADAM-17 and TSP-1 and tissue findings showed no consistent intergroup differences. Total CPB was associated with an early increase in circulating VCAM-1. Because the CPB configurations differed in several physiological and procedural factors, this response should be interpreted as configuration-associated rather than as evidence of an isolated effect of reduced pulsatility.