Self-assembly of prevascular tissues from endothelial and fibroblast cells under scaffold-free, nonadherent conditions.

ABSTRACT: To advance the emerging field of bioengineered prevascularized tissues, we investigated factors that control primary vascular network formation in scaffold-free, high-density cell suspension-derived tissues. Fabricating primary vascular networks in a scaffold-free system requires endothelial cells (ECs) and extracellular matrix (ECM)-producing cells that act together to elaborate a permissive matrix. We report findings on the effects to vascular patterning induced by altering the ratio of human endothelial to human fibroblast cells. Analysis revealed that a 1:4 ratio of ECs to fibroblasts resulted in the synthesis of an ECM permissive for organization of primary vascular networks that recapitulated the pattern of primary vascular networks observed in vivo. Importantly this work highlighted

SUBMITTER: Czajka CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4293139 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature