Spontaneous Formation of Extensive Vessel-Like Structures in Murine Engineered Heart Tissue.

ABSTRACT: Engineered heart tissue (EHT) from primary heart cells contains endothelial cells (ECs), but the extent to which ECs organize into vessel-like structures or even functional vessels remains unknown and is difficult to study by conventional methods. In this study, we generated fibrin-based mini-EHTs from a transgenic mouse line (Cdh5-CreERT2 × Rosa26-LacZ), in which ECs were specifically and inducibly labeled by applying tamoxifen (EC(iLacZ)). EHTs were generated from an unpurified cell mix of newborn mouse hearts and were cultured under standard serum-containing conditions. Cre expression in 15-day-old EHTs was induced by addition of o-hydroxytamoxifen to the culture medium for 48 h, and ECs were visualized by X-gal staining. EC(iLacZ) EHTs showed a dense X-gal-positive vessel-like network

SUBMITTER: Stoehr A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4799701 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature