Gaurav Kaushik, Kartik Gupta, Victoria Harms, Elizabeth Torr, Jonathan Evans, Hunter J Johnson, Cheryl Soref, Suehelay Acevedo-Acevedo, Jessica Antosiewicz-Bourget, Daniel Mamott, Peyton Uhl, Brian P Johnson, Sean P Palecek, David J Beebe, James A Thomson, William T Daly, William L Murphy
There is a vital need to develop in vitro models of the developing human brain to recapitulate the biological effects that toxic compounds have on the brain. To model perineural vascular plexus (PNVP) in vitro, which is a key stage in embryonic development, human embryonic stem cells (hESC)-derived endothelial cells (ECs), neural progenitor cells, and microglia (MG) with primary pericytes (PCs) in synthetic hydrogels in a custom-designed microfluidics device are cocultured. The formation of a vascular plexus that includes networks of ECs (CD31+, VE-cadherin+), MG (IBA1+), and PCs (PDGFRβ+), and an overlying neuronal layer that includes differentiated neuronal cells (βIII Tubulin+, GFAP+) and radial glia (Nestin+, Notch2NL+), are characterized...
July 1, 2020: Advanced Healthcare Materials