Vasculature creation v. 1.0

<p>Figure 1.</p> <p>HUVEC cells cultivated in T25 flask with Cellbiologics M1168 endothelial basal medium (containing essential and non-essential amino acids, vitamins, organic and inorganic compounds, trace minerals) supplemented with 0.1% hydrocortisone and 0.1% EGF, 10% FBS, and penicillin/streptomycin at 37 &deg;C in an atmosphere of 5% CO₂. HUVEC cells failed to thrive in this environment that was tested for future co-culture with functionalized silk fibers, other cytotypes, and brain slice-cultures. Scale bar 100 &mu;m.</p> <p>Figure 2.</p> <p>HUVEC cells cultivated in T25 flask with Cellbiologics M1168 endothelial basal medium (described in Fig. 1), supplemented with 0.1% hydrocortisone, 0.1% EGF, 0.1% VEGF, 0.1% ECGS, 0.1% Heparin and 5% FBS, penicillin/streptomycin at 37 &deg;C in an atmosphere of 5% CO₂. HUVEC cells were able to thrive with the addition of the supplements but failed to acquire an adequate morphology. Scale bar 100 &mu;m.</p> <p>Figure 3.</p> <p>HUVEC cells cultivated in a gelatin-coated Petri dish (Cellbiologics Gelatin-Based Coating Solution cat. 6950) with Cellbiologics M1168 endothelial supplemented medium (described in Fig. 2) at 37 &deg;C in an atmosphere of 5% CO₂. HUVEC cells were able to thrive and acquire endothelial morphology with preliminary tube formation. Scale bar 100 &mu;m.</p> <p>Figure 4</p> <p>Functionalized silk fiber scaffold. The arrangement of the fibers is mostly parallel. However, differences in thickness and uncontrolled crossing are observed. Air bubbles are trapped by the meshes. No difference between the control and functionalized (VEGF and IKVAV) groups are observed. Scale bar 100 &mu;m.</p> <p>Figure 5.</p> <p>C57BL/6 Mouse Embryonic Brain Endothelial Cells (Cellbiologics C57-6023E) seeded on gelatin-coated functionalized silk fiber scaffold (meshes). The cell vials arrived at room temperature for shipping delay from the US and were immediately seeded using the endothelial supplemented medium. Air bubbles traps are removed by coating the wells with gelatin. No difference is reported among control and (VEGF and IKVAV) functionalized meshes. Scale bar 100 &mu;m.</p>