Li Mei-Xi, Li Lei, Zhou Si-Yuan, Cao Jian-Hua, Liang Wei-Hua, Tian Ye, Shi Xue-Tao, Yang Xiu-Bin, Wu Da-Yong
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190 P. R. China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 P. R. China.
RSC Adv. 2021 Sep 27;11(50):31783-31790. doi: 10.1039/d1ra04472a. eCollection 2021 Sep 21.
In blood vessels, endothelial cells (ECs) grow along the direction of blood flow, while smooth muscle cells (SMCs) grow circumferentially along the vessel wall. To mimic this structure, a polycaprolactone (PCL) tubular scaffold with orthogonally oriented bilayer nanofibers was prepared electrospinning and winding. ECs were cultured on the inner layer of the scaffold with axial nanofibers and SMCs were cultured on the outer layer of the scaffold with circumferential nanofibers. Fluorescence images of the F-actin distribution of ECs and SMCs indicated that cells adhered, stretched, and proliferated in an oriented manner on the scaffold. Moreover, layers of ECs and SMCs formed on the scaffold after one month of incubation. The expression levels of platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1) and a contractile SMC phenotype marker in the EC/SMC co-culture system were much higher than those in individual culture systems, thus demonstrating that the proposed biomimetic scaffold promoted the intercellular junction of ECs and preserved the contractile phenotype of SMCs.
在血管中，内皮细胞（ECs）沿血流方向生长，而平滑肌细胞（SMCs）沿血管壁周向生长。为模拟这种结构，通过静电纺丝和缠绕制备了具有正交取向双层纳米纤维的聚己内酯（PCL）管状支架。将ECs培养在具有轴向纳米纤维的支架内层，将SMCs培养在具有周向纳米纤维的支架外层。ECs和SMCs的F-肌动蛋白分布的荧光图像表明，细胞在支架上以定向方式粘附、伸展和增殖。此外，孵育一个月后，在支架上形成了ECs层和SMCs层。EC/SMC共培养系统中血小板内皮细胞粘附分子1（PECAM-1）的表达水平和收缩性SMC表型标记物的表达水平远高于单个培养系统中的表达水平，从而表明所提出的仿生支架促进了ECs的细胞间连接并保留了SMCs的收缩表型。
