West, Jennifer L.2018-12-032018-12-032008Smith, April Ann. "Endothelial cell and mural progenitor cell co-culture to promote angiogenesis in tissue engineered constructs." (2008) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103542">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103542</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103542The need for tissue engineered organs is great since only 15% of those on the transplant waiting list received organs in 2006. The ability to vascularize a tissue engineered construct is one of the major hurdles for tissue engineering because it can take 2 weeks for an implanted construct to become vascularized. To produce prevascularized tissues, the cellular interactions that occur during vascular formation need to be examined. In this work, human umbilical cord endothelial cells (HUVECs) and mural progenitor cells (10T1/2 cells) are cultured together for 6 days. Western blotting and immunofluorescence are performed to assess SM-specific marker expression. αSM-actin and calponin expression was observed in co-cultures seeded at 300,000 cells/well while caldesmon and SMMHC expression was observed in co-cultures seeded at 60,000 cells/well. HUVECs and 10T1/2 cells, seeded at 150,000 cells/gel, encapsulated in degradable PEG hydrogels expressed high levels of αSM-actin, calponin, and caldesmon.51 ppengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Biomedical engineeringApplied sciencesThesis304508007THESIS BIOENG. 2009 SMITH