UCLA

We examined the effects of the microenvironment on vascular differentiation of murine cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPCs). We isolated CPCs and seeded them in culture exposed to the various extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in both two-dimensional (2D) and 3D culture systems. To better understand the contribution of the microenvironment to vascular differentiation, we analyzed endothelial and smooth muscle cell differentiation at both day 7 and day 14. We found that laminin and vitronectin enhanced vascular endothelial cell differentiation while fibronectin enhanced vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation. We also observed that the effects of the 3D electrospun scaffolds were delayed and not noticeable until the later time point (day 14), which may be due to the amount of time necessary for the cells to migrate to the interior of the scaffold. The study characterized the contributions of both ECM proteins and the addition of a 3D culture system to continued vascular differentiation. Additionally, we demonstrated the capability bioengineer a CPC-derived vascular graft.