FIG. 2.

Bioreactor platform and silk microtubes. (A) The previously developed bioreactor platform was adapted to reproduce the bone marrow microenvironment to study megakaryocyte migration, adhesion to the sinusoidal vessel, proplatelet formation, and platelet release. (B) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a representative silk microtube used to mimic blood vessels (ii). The wall thickness was adjusted around 50 μm to match proplatelet length (i). (C) To allow proplatelet elongation through the vascular microtube wall, defined pore sizes of 2–8 μm were obtained as described in Materials and Methods. (i) SEM image of vascular microtube wall pores. (ii) SEM image showing pore interconnection and a path through the tube wall. Color images available online at www.liebertonline.com/tec