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Blood Vessel‐Like Tissue Spheroids as Modules for the Assembly of Blood Vessels
Author(s) -
Gentile Carmine,
Fleming Paul,
Mironov Vladimir,
Argraves W. Scott,
Drake Christopher J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.580.5
Subject(s) - blood vessel , lumen (anatomy) , spheroid , endothelium , in vivo , anatomy , perfusion , microcirculation , chemistry , biology , biophysics , microbiology and biotechnology , in vitro , medicine , biochemistry , endocrinology
Blood vessel‐like tissue spheroids (BVLTS) were generated in hanging drop culture from either murine allantoic tissue or mixtures of human EC and SMC. Essential to the generation of BVLTS was the vascular fusion‐promoting activity of VEGF, which allowed the inner network of small caliber endothelial tubes initially formed within the spheroids to be transformed into a single, large endothelial‐lined central cavity. Our designation of these spheroids as blood vessel‐like was based on their morphological and immunohistochemical properties. Specifically, BVLTS were characterized by the presence of an inner PECAM/VE‐cadherin positive endothelium defining a central lumen (diameter >300μm) that is surrounded by an outer layer of (SMA‐positive cells. That BVLTS possessed a true lumen was demonstrated by the finding that Qdots microinjected into the central space were both confined to and retained within the EC‐lined cavity. Further, the blood vessel‐like properties of BVLTS were demonstrated by our finding that murine BVLTS responded to vasoactive compounds in a manner consistent with that observed in vivo. That BVLTS have utility as modules for the assembly of intermediate sized blood vessels is supported by our finding that individual BVLTS can fuse to form larger vascular structures. Future efforts will be directed at assembling and perfusion testing vascular tubes generated from BVLTSs.