Vascular network formation for a long-term spheroid culture by co-culturing endothelial cells and fibroblasts

In this paper, we present a poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device to create a vascular network for a long-term spheroid culture, of which network and spheroid are consist of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and normal human lung fibroblasts (LF), respectively. Following device design, fabrication, and fundamental evaluation of HUVEC sprouting conditions, we visualized that HUVEC networks were successfully formed by the co-culture with LFs and reached a LF-based spheroid. Moreover, perfusability of the network was evaluated by injecting fluorescent microbeads. This platform will be applicable for long-term tissue cultures to understand morphogenesis and modeling of blood vessel functions.