Fig. 7
From: Fluid flow impacts endothelial-monocyte interactions in a model of vascular inflammatory fibrosis
Integration of vascular flow in the complete hToC culture. (a) Schematic illustrating key cell types represented in the hToC injury model. The fluidic vascular channel is composed of an endothelial monolayer and circulating monocytes. The bottom tendon compartment contains tenocytes and tissue macrophages embedded in a collagen matrix. (b) Culture timeline for the complete fluidic hToC model, including all four cell types (tenocytes, ECs, monocytes, and tissue macrophages). Tenocytes and monocytes were encapsulated in a collagen hydrogel and cultured in the presence of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) for 6 days. ECs were statically cultured in the vascular flow channel for 24 h and then preconditioned at 1.5 dynes/cm2 for 24 h. At this point, monocytes were added to the circulation for an additional 24 h. (c) Confocal images of hToC cultures with or without tissue macrophages (tMφ) in the tissue hydrogel after 24 h of monocyte circulation through the vascular channel (D1). All cells other than the EC monolayer were live-labeled with membrane dyes. Circulating monocytes are red, tenocytes are green, and tissue macrophages are purple. The presence of tissue macrophages drives circulating monocyte transmigration into the bottom channel. (d) Quantification of adhered monocytes, demonstrating a trending increase in adhered cells in the + tMφ condition. (e) Quantification of transmigrated monocytes, showing a significant increase (p = 0.0098) in monocyte infiltration with the presence of tMφ. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test was used, **p < 0.01.
