Co-culture of vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells by hyaluronic acid micro-pattern on titanium surface

Micro-patterning as an effective bio-modification technique is increasingly used in the development of biomaterials with superior mechanical and biological properties. However, as of now, little is known about the simultaneous regulation of endothelial cells (EC) and smooth muscle cells (SMC) by cardiovascular implants. In this study, a co-culture system of EC and SMC was built on titanium surface by the high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA) micro-pattern. Firstly, the micro-pattern sample with a geometry of 25 μm wide HMW-HA ridges, and 25 μm alkali-activated Ti grooves was prepared by microtransfer molding (μTM) for regulating SMC morphology. Secondly, hyaluronidase was used to decompose high molecular weight hyaluronic acid into low molecular weight hyaluronic acid which could promote EC adhesion. Finally, the morphology of the adherent EC was elongated by the SMC micro-pattern. The surface morphology of the patterned Ti was imaged by SEM. The existence of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid on the modified Ti surface was demonstrated by FTIR. The SMC micro-pattern and EC/SMC co-culture system were characterized by immunofluorescence microscopy. The nitric oxide release test and cell retention calculation were used to evaluate EC function on inhibiting hyperplasia and cell shedding, respectively. The results indicate that EC in EC/SMC co-culture system displayed a higher NO release and cell retention compared with EC cultured alone. It can be suggested that the EC/SMC co-culture system possessed superiority to EC cultured alone in inhibiting hyperplasia and cell shedding at least in a short time of 24 h.