Effect of Mechanical and Biophysical Properties of Fibrin Gel on Microvascular Development in a Three-Dimensonal Angiogenesis Assay

Abstract

This work aims to determine the mechanical and biophysical properties of fibrin gel for the purpose of angiogenesis study and microvascular development in a threedimensional (3D) environment. In the human body system, fibrin gel is known to be an extracellular matrix (ECM) that actively promotes homeostasis during blood vessel formation, wound healing and other inflammation processes. In this study, we first test the effect of fibrin and thrombin composition on mechanical and biophysical properties of the gel. Further in vitro experiments using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were also conducted to find the optimum fibrinogen/thrombin concentration for the angiogenesis assay using a sandwich fibrin gel system. A fibrinogen/thrombin concentration of 2.0/1.0 results in optimum gel properties for three dimensional angiogenesis assay, which does not appear in other fibrinogen/thrombin concentrations. This sandwiched polymer fiber system has a potential future application for angiogenesis assay in tissue engineering and cardiovascular research.