Fabrication of endothelialized tube in collagen gel as starting point for self-developing capillary-like network to construct three-dimensional organs in vitro

✍ Scribed by Takayuki Takei; Shinji Sakai; Tsutomu Ono; Hiroyuki Ijima; Koei Kawakami

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 444 KB
• Volume: 95
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3592
• DOI: 10.1002/bit.20903

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A possible strategy for creating three‐dimensional (3D) tissue‐engineered organs in vitro with similar volumes to the primary organs is to develop a capillary network throughout the constructs to provide sufficient oxygenation and nutrition to the cells composing them. Here, we propose a novel approach for the creation of a capillary‐like network in vitro, based on the spontaneous tube‐forming activity of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) in collagen gel. We fabricated a linear tube of 500 µm in diameter, the inner surface of which was filled with bovine carotid artery vascular endothelial cells (BECs), in type I collagen gel as a starting point for the formation of a capillary‐like network. The BECs exposed to a medium containing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) migrated into the ambient gel around the tube. After 2 weeks of VEGF exposure, the distance of the migration into the ambient gel in the radial direction of the tube reached approximately 800 µm. Cross‐sections of capillary‐like structures composed of the migrating BECs, with a lumen‐like interior space, were observed in slices of the gel around the tube stained with hematoxylin–eosin (H&E). These results demonstrate that this approach using a pre‐established tube, which is composed of ECs, as a starting point for a self‐developing capillary‐like network is potentially useful for constructing 3D organs in vitro. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.