Molecular response of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells on hydrogels

There is a high demand for the isolation of primary endothelial cells for biomaterial endotheliazation studies, tissue engineering, and artificial organ development. Further, biomarkers for monitoring the response of endothelial cells in biomaterials science are required. We systematically compared two strategies for isolating liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) from mouse liver. We demonstrate that fluorescence-activated cell sorting results in a considerably higher purity (~97%) compared to magnetic-assisted cell sorting (~80%), but is associated with a lower yield and recovery rate. Cell repellent polyethylene glycol (PEG) substrates affected the morphology of primary LSEC in culture and significantly downregulated the intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) and upregulated the vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM). This molecular response could partially be reverted by further modification with arginylglycylaspartic acid (RGD). Thus, usage of PEGylated materials may reduce, while applying RGD may support endotheliazation of materials, and we could relate LSEC attachment to their expression of ICAM and VCAM mRNA, suggesting their usage as biomarkers for endothelialization.