Human and equine endothelial cells in a live cell imaging scratch assay in vitro.

This research paper investigates and compares the way human and equine (horse) endothelial cells respond to vascular damage. The researchers used a live cell imaging method to monitor the healing process of these cells in an in vitro environment.

Objective

• The main aim of this study was to compare how human and equine endothelial cells react to injuries, specifically focusing on their angiogenic response – the formation of new blood vessels – in vitro.

Methods

• Endothelial cells from varying sources were used including human umbilical vein (HUVEC), human abdominal aorta (HAAEC), human dermal microvasculature (HDMEC), equine carotid artery (EACEC), and equine jugular vein (EVJEC).
• These cells were cultured and then an elongated defect or “wound” was created to emulate vascular injury.
• The scratch assay was monitored for a total of 90 hours in a live cell imaging microscope to observe how the cells responded to the injury and tracked the time it took to heal the wound.

Results

• In the human endothelial cells, they observed a uniform and progressive migration of cells from the edges of the scratch towards the empty area. This area was fully healed after 17, 15, and 26 hours for HUVEC, HAAEC, and HDMEC, respectively.
• Meanwhile, in the equine endothelial cells, full closure of the injury was achieved after 17 and 35 hours for EVJEC and EACEC, respectively.

Conclusions

• The study found that the equine arterial cells exhibited slower wound healing compared to the human endothelial cells and equine venous cells. This delay is believed to be due to the disoriented and uncoordinated migration of the endothelial tip cells which consequently slows down the re-endothelialization process, or the repair of the endothelial layer on the inner surface of blood vessels.