ABSTRACT
In recent years, engineering of blood vessels, which can provide the effective transport of nutrients and various metabolites, is one of the major challenges in tissue reconstruction. Many researches are carried out to develop cell-seeded bioconstructs based on natural polymers, particularly on PEGylated fibrin. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the optimal component ratio for modified fibrin hydrogels in order to provide favorable conditions for vascular development of endothelial and mesenchymal stem cell co-culture. It has been found out that the PEGylated fibrin hydrogels can support 3D cell growth in HUVECs and hASCs co-culture. The microporous filamentous hydrogel prepared from PEGylated 5 : 1 fibrinogen and using the 1 : 0.2 protein to thrombin ratio had the most favorable microenvironment for cell distribution, growth and development in the studied co-culture that resulted in high levels of expression of proteins required for angiogenesis.
