title: Cerebral microvessels and derived cells in tissue culture: isolation and preliminary characterization.
abstract: Microvessels isolated from mouse forebrain were used as the source material for the derivation of cerebral vascular endothelium and smooth-muscle cells in culture. The microvessels were isolated by a mechanical dispersion and filtration technique, and were maintained in vitro as organoid cultures. A microvessel classification system was developed and proved to be useful as a tool in monitoring culture progress and in predicting the type(s) of microvessel(s) that would give rise to migrating and/or proliferating cells. The isolated cerebral microvessels were heterogeneous in diameter, size of individual vascular isolate, and proliferative potential. The isolated microvessels ranged in diameter from 4 micron to 25 micron and in size from a single microvascular segment to a large multibranched plexus with mural cells. The initial viability, determined by erythrosin B exclusion, was approximately 50% on a per cell basis. All microvessel classes had proliferative potential although the rate and extent of proliferation were both microvessel class- and density-dependent. The smaller microvessels gave rise to endothelial cells, whereas the large microvessels gave rise to endothelial and smooth-muscle cells. The viability and progress of a microvessel toward derived cell proliferation seemed to be directly proportional to the number of mural cells present.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002196:Capillaries / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002455:Cell Division; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004727:Endothelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004923:Erythrosine / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D004923:Erythrosine