Abstract:
Pathological vascular remodeling of the vessel wall refers to the structural and functional changes of the vessel wall that occur in response to injury that eventually leads to cardiovascular disease. The vessel wall is composed of two main types of cells, endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells, whose communication is crucial in both the development of the vasculature and the homeostasis of mature vessels. Changes in the dialogue between endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells are associated with various pathological states that triggers remodeling of the vascular wall. For many years, considerable efforts have been made to develop effective diagnoses and treatments for these pathologies by studying their mechanisms in both in vitro and in vivo models. Compared to animal models, in vitro models can provide great opportunities to obtain data in a more homogeneous, economical and massive way, providing an overview of the signaling pathways responsible for these pathologies. The implementation of three-dimensional in vitro co-culture models for the study of other pathologies has been postulated as a potentially applicable methodology, which determines the importance of its application in studies of cardiovascular diseases. In this article we present a method for culturing human endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells, grown under non-adherent conditions, that generate three-dimensional spheroidal structures with greater physiological equivalence to in vivo conditions. This in vitro modeling could be used as a study tool to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathological processes underlying vascular remodeling.
摘要:
血管壁的病理性血管重塑是指响应于最终导致心血管疾病的损伤而发生的血管壁的结构和功能变化。血管壁由两种主要类型的细胞组成,内皮细胞和血管平滑肌细胞,其通讯在脉管系统的发育和成熟血管的稳态中都至关重要。内皮细胞和血管平滑肌细胞之间对话的变化与触发血管壁重塑的各种病理状态有关。多年来,通过在体外和体内模型中研究这些疾病的机制,已经做出了相当大的努力来开发这些疾病的有效诊断和治疗。与动物模型相比,体外模型可以提供很大的机会来获得更均匀的数据,经济和大规模的方式,提供负责这些病理的信号通路的概述。用于研究其他病理的三维体外共培养模型的实施已被假定为潜在的适用方法。这决定了其在心血管疾病研究中应用的重要性。在本文中,我们提出了一种培养人内皮细胞和血管平滑肌细胞的方法,在非粘附条件下生长,产生三维球形结构,其生理上与体内条件相当。这种体外建模可用作研究工具,以鉴定血管重塑的病理过程中涉及的细胞和分子机制。