Fibrin Degradation Enhances Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation and Matrix Deposition in Fibrin-Based Tissue Constructs Fabricated In Vitro

Fibrin degradation enhances vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and matrix deposition in fibrin-based tissue constructs fabricated in vitro.

Completely biological tissue replacements can be fabricated by entrapping cells in a molded fibrin gel. Over time, the fibrin is degraded and replaced with cell-produced extracellular matrix. However, the relationship between fibrin degradation and matrix deposition has not been elucidated. We developed techniques to quantify fibrin degradation products (FDP) and examine plasmin activity in the...

Monitoring collagen transcription by vascular smooth muscle cells in fibrin-based tissue constructs.

Current methods for measuring collagen content in engineered tissues are incompatible with monitoring of collagen production because they require destruction of the tissue. We have implemented a luciferase-based strategy to monitor collagen production noninvasively. Fibrin-based tissue constructs made using vascular smooth muscle cells stably transfected with a collagen I promoter/luciferase tr...

Adipose Tissue Engineering: Comparing Scaffold-free and Fibrin-based Constructs

Introduction Success of adipose tissue engineering for soft tissue repair has been limited by poor cell survival and insufficient adipogenic differentiation. Although the choice of scaffold can influence these parameters, there is a limited number of studies focussing on the role of scaffolds in cell survival and. adipogenic differentiation. In this study we examined how three-dimensional scaff...

Fibrin deposition in pregnancy.

Extracellular matrix glycoprotein biglycan enhances vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration.

Proteoglycans are produced and secreted by vascular smooth muscle cells, but the pathophysiological role of these glycoproteins in the vasculature is an enigma. Because the small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP) biglycan is overexpressed in arteriosclerotic lesions, we produced mice constitutively overexpressing biglycan in the vascular smooth muscle, in order to examine the effects on vascular...