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Development and Characterization of In Vitro Microvessel Network and Quantitative Measurements of Endothelial [Ca2+]i and Nitric Oxide Production
Published on: May 19, 2016
ECM-based microchannel for culturing in vitro vascular tissues with simultaneous perfusion and stretch
Azusa Shimizu1, Wei Huang Goh2, Shun Itai1
1School of Integrated Design Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-Ku, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan. onoe@mech.keio.ac.jp.
Abstract:
We present an extracellular matrix (ECM)-based stretchable microfluidic system for culturing in vitro three-dimensional (3D) vascular tissues, which mimics in vivo blood vessels. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) can be cultured under perfusion and stretch simultaneously with real-time imaging by our proposed system. Our ECM (transglutaminase (TG) cross-linked gelatin)-based microchannel was fabricated by dissolving water-soluble sacrificial polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) molds printed with a 3D printer. Flows in the microchannel were analyzed under perfusion and stretch. We demonstrated simultaneous perfusion and stretch of TG gelatin-based microchannels culturing HUVECs. We suggest that our TG gelatin-based stretchable microfluidic system proves to be a useful tool for understanding the mechanisms of vascular tissue formation and mechanotransduction.
