FIG. 3.

Cell migration and loss over time. Collagen was stained with trichrome and appear blue, whereas nuclei appear dark brown. For EC-only modules, EC appeared to remain along the surface of static controls, whereas flow caused loss of cells over time. For modules with embedded MSC (with or without EC), flow appeared to cause a migration of cells from the interior of the modules (white arrows) toward the outer surfaces and the intermodular regions (black arrows). By day 21, MSC-only modules experiencing flow had more cells in the intermodular regions and more total cells than their corresponding static controls. This effect was accelerated in MSC+EC modules and was apparent by day 14. By day 21, MSC+EC modules with flow had more cells than static controls, and these cells were present in the intermodular region, which contrasts with the static controls, in which cells were found primarily within the modules. Scale bars=100 μm. Color images available online at www.liebertonline.com/tea