title: Tissue engineering of blood vessels with endothelial cells differentiated from mouse embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Endothelial cells (TEC3 cells) derived from mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells were used as seed cells to construct blood vessels. Tissue engineered blood vessels were made by seeding 8  106 smooth muscle cells (SMCs) obtained from rabbit arteries onto a sheet of nonwoven polyglycolic acid (PGA) fibers, which was used as a biodegradable polymer scaffold. After being cultured in DMEM medium for 7 days in vitro, SMCs grew well on the PGA fibers, and the cell-PGA sheet was then wrapped around a silicon tube, and implanted subcutaneously into nude mice. After 6~8 weeks, the silicon tube was replaced with another silicon tube in smaller diameter, and then the TEC3 cells (endothelial cells differentiated from mouse ES cells) were injected inside the engineered vessel tube as the test group. In the control group only culture medium was injected. Five days later, the engineered vessels were harvested for gross observation, histological and immunohistochemical analysis. The preliminary results demonstrated that the SMC-PGA construct could form a tubular structure in 6~8 weeks and PGA fibers were completely degraded. Histological and immunohistochemical analysis of the newly formed tissue revealed a typical blood vessel structure, including a lining of endothelial cells (ECs) on the lumimal surface and the presence of SMC and collagen in the wall. No EC lining was found in the tubes of control group. Therefore, the ECs differentiated from mouse ES cells can serve as seed cells for endothelium lining in tissue engineered blood vessels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai 9th People s Hospital, Shanghai 2nd Medical University, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Gan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Hsiao Chien
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Tsung
authors.forename: Chun Fang
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiao Yin
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiao Yun
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yi Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D011817:Rabbits; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*