A collagen based vitro model of angiogenesis designed for tissue-engineering material

Angiogenesis is central importance to tissue-engineering. Many vitro models are developed to study the mechanism of angiogenesis, making a great deal of contribution to drug development against tumor, and often may be expensive, time-consuming. Till now, few reported models have been applied to evaluating the effect of degradation fluid of tissue-engineering material to angiogenesis. In present study, we used ECV304 cell as the model cell line, type I collagen matrix that contained no stimulatory factors as a culture substratum to develop a testing model. Tube-like structure (TLS) formed within 8 h on lower density of collagen (0.2, 0.5 mg/ml), which is not found on dense collagen (1, 2 mg/ml). After ECV304 cells were seeded on the surface of collagen matrix, adherence occurred within 1 h. Soon afterwards, ECV304 cells migrated into cell aggregates, then sent out elongated cell processes to form TLS by cytoplasmic anastomosis. Proliferation was obviously perceived during the course. To investigate the efficiency of the model, we took poly(lactic acid) (PLA) degradation fluid with degradation time varying from 1 to 120 days as the testing material. TLS formation is enhanced by ECV304 cells exposed to early degradation fluid before 50-day point, and the trend of inhibition grew as the degradation time increased. Further, no formation was found in degradation fluid after 90-day point. The model is sensitive to the surrounding environment, and can demonstrate the effects of testing material quantitatively to angiogenesis. In summary, the simplicity, reproducibility and miniaturized character of the model described here may make it highly useful as a medium to test the effect of degradation fluid of tissue-engineering material to angiogenesis.