FIG. 3.

Coculture of MSCs in contact with ECs alters the release of a soluble factor(s) that affects EC angiogenic capacity. (A) ECs cultured in contact with MSCs were placed in a transwell above ECs seeded into matrigel. After 6 h in matrigel, the ECs in matrigel displayed a diminished ability to form vascular networks compared to ECs alone or MSCs in transwells alone. Cartoon depicts this setup with MSCs (green) and ECs (red), along with representative fields for each condition. (B) Quantitation of capillary branch length measured in 10 random-view fields for each condition. Data show ECs in matrigel below the EC-MSC coculture (MSC+EC [TW]) form significantly shorter branches (P<0.05+) in matrigel compared to ECs cultured alone, and ECs cultured with MSCs in transwells (MSC [TW]) form longer branches (P<0.05*) compared to ECs alone. (C) Quantitation of capillary network branch points counted in 10 random-view fields for each condition. Data show that ECs in matrigel below the EC-MSC coculture (MSC+EC [TW]) form significantly fewer branch points (P<0.05+) in matrigel compared to ECs cultured alone, and ECs with MSCs in transwells (MSC [TW]) demonstrate enhanced branch point formation (P<0.05*) compared to ECs alone. Tube length is designated as relative length in arbitrary units. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/scd