FIG. 2.

Schematic of tube fabrication process, and tissue tube culture experimental groups for the ring preculture duration experiment. Rings are formed by seeding SMCs into ring-shaped agarose molds, where cells aggregate around 2 mm diameter posts and form rings in less than 24 h (A). Rings are then removed from molds and threaded onto silicone tubing, where they are pushed together and cultured for 7 additional days to allow fusion (B). To test the effects of varying ring culture duration, rings were cultured for 3, 5, or 7 days (“ring culture”), followed by 7 days of “fusion culture” for all groups (C). Groups are labeled as follows: days in ring culture–days in fusion culture (ex. Group 3–7 = 3 days in ring culture followed by 7 days in fusion culture). Black dots = SMCs. SMC, smooth muscle cell. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea