title: The role of endothelial cells in the retinal stem and progenitor cell niche within a 3D engineered hydrogel matrix.
abstract: Cell-cell interactions are critical to understanding functional tissues. A number of stem cell populations have been shown to receive key regulatory information from endothelial cells (ECs); however, the role of ECs in the retinal stem and progenitor cell (RSPC) niche has been largely unexplored. To gain greater insight into the role of ECs on RSPC fate, a three-dimensional (3D) co-culture model, incorporating cell-cell interactions, was designed by covalently-modifying agarose hydrogels with growth factors and cell-adhesive peptides in defined volumes. Therein ECs adopted tubular-like morphologies similar to those observed in vivo, but not observed in two-dimensional (2D) cultures. Unexpectedly, ECs inhibited proliferation and differentiation of RSPCs, revealing, for the first time, the possible role of ECs on RSPC fate. This 3D hydrogel scaffold provides a simple, reproducible and versatile method with which to answer biological questions related to the cellular microenvironment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Yukie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.forename: Molly S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Shoichet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000187:drug effects; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000494:pharmacology*; D039121:Integrin alpha6beta1 / Q000378:metabolism; D007797:Laminin / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology*; D012685:Sepharose / Q000494:pharmacology; D055153:Stem Cell Niche / Q000187:drug effects*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D039121:Integrin alpha6beta1; D007797:Laminin; D009842:Oligopeptides; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D012685:Sepharose; C049554:glycyl-arginyl-glycyl-aspartyl-serine