Co-culture of $\beta-cells$ and endothelial cells in a micropatterned collagen sheet

Abstract

Co-culture of beta cells and endothelial cells in constructing a pancreatic pseudo-tissue is important in understanding cell to cell interaction in islets, as well as understanding pancreatic diseases including diabetes. In this thesis, we constructed a pancreatic model where MIN6 and MS-1 cells are co-cultured within collagen sheets. In 4 to 10 days, depending on the cell seeding concentration, MIN6 cells formed islet-like clusters surrounded by a MS-1 cell monolayer. The MS-1 cells also formed monolayers at the edge of the hexagonal micropattern, resulting in a blood vessel-like structure in which no cells were found. MS-1 intra-islet vessels were formed, but they had a larger diameter than the in vivo intra-islet capillaries. Along with the decreased MIN6 insulin secretion in the co-cultured sheet compared to the mono-cultured sheet, our co-culture model showed the potential as a pancreatic disease model in which a similar change in beta cells and endothelial cells was observed. In addition, by simply embedding the cell mixture and the hexagonal micropattern into the collagen sheet, we were able to achieve high throughput yield, high reproducibility, and a tissue-level fabrication of the construct.