Fig. 7

Tissue-engineered dhBMEC/dhPC microvessels. a Schematic illustration showing fabrication of microvessels with sequential seeding of dhPCs and dhBMECs in a cylindrical channel surrounded by collagen I. b Confocal slices of the XY and YZ planes, and a 3D reconstruction from confocal slices demonstrating dhPC (red) localization abluminal to dhBMECs (green), imaged on day 2 following seeding. c Fluorescence images of dhBMEC and dhBMEC/dhPC microvessels (+dhPC) (top) after 20 min of perfusion with: (middle) Lucifer yellow (LY) and (bottom) 10 kDa dextran. d Permeability of LY and 10 kDa dextran in dhBMEC microvessels with and without dhPCs on day 2. D.L.—detection limit. Bars represent mean ± SEM for three independent microvessels (N = 3). e Density of abluminal dhPCs over 7 days after seeding dhBMECs. Bars represent mean ± SEM (N = 2–4). f Root mean square (RMS) displacement of dhPCs along the lumen/matrix interface as a function of time immediately after seeding dhBMECs (day 0). Bars represent mean ± SEM (N = 2). g Average instantaneous speed of dhPCs along the lumen/matrix interface versus time. Bars represent mean ± SEM (N = 2). At least 65 cells were tracked per microvessel in f and g. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01