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The Effect of Media Type on Nerve Presence in Cultured Microvascular Networks
Author(s) -
Hodges Nicholas A.,
Barr Ryan W.,
Murfee Walter L.
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.724.5
Subject(s) - nerve growth factor , angiogenesis , neurovascular bundle , neurogenesis , nerve guidance conduit , in vitro , biology , in vivo , cell type , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , neuroscience , anatomy , medicine , cell , regeneration (biology) , receptor , biochemistry , genetics
Neurovascular patterning represents an emerging area of microvascular research. While overlapping molecular signals highlight links between angiogenesis and neurogenesis, advancing our understanding of their spatial and temporal coordination is limited by a lack of in vitro models that contain both systems. Such a potential model is the rat mesentery culture model, which our laboratory has recently introduced as an ex vivo tool to investigate cellular dynamics during angiogenesis and lympangiogenesis in an intact microvascular network scenario. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of media type on the maintenance of nerve presence in cultured networks. Mesenteric tissue windows were harvested from adult male Wistar rats and cultured for 3 days in the following media groups: neural basal media (NBM, n = 4 tissues), NBM + nerve growth factor (NGF, n = 7 tissues), and NBM + NGF + 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS, n = 7 tissues). Tissues were immunohistochemically labeled for PECAM (endothelial cell marker) and class III‐β tubulin (nerve marker). Control tissues (n=7) were immediately immunolabeled after harvesting with no culture. The ratio of network feeding arterioles with observable positive class III‐β tubulin nerve alignment in control tissues was significantly increased compared to each of the three cultured groups (Control = 0.83 ± 0.09; NBM = 0.04 ± 0.04; NBM + NGF = 0.33 ± 0.14; NBM + NGF + 20% FBS = 0.40 ± 0.12). These results suggest that the presence of nerves is reduced in cultured networks. The possibility for media type influences on nerve maintenance supports the potential for the future development of the rat mesentery culture model as a unique ex vivo tool to investigate angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and neurovascular patterning simultaneously. Support or Funding Information NIH 5‐P20GM103629‐04