By Ashley Maidon
STEP Summer Internship Program 2001Campbell University School of Pharmacy
Cells in some tissues can move from one place to another place to perform specific tasks. e.g. the immune system cells.
Others cells may move as part of a disease process. e.g. cancer cells
Introduction
Vascular smooth muscles may move during the development of heart disease. The movementof smooth muscle cells may form plaques on the arteries and can lead to heart attacks.
We studied how vascular smooth muscle cellsmove in a collagen matrix.
Introduction
Methods
Week 1: We grew vascular smooth muscle cells in culture dishes to use in the migration study.
Week 2: Cells in the study were grown inside a collagen gel matrix
These cells were left untreated or treated with fetal bovine serum to stimulate them to move inside the gel.
A third group of cells in the gels were treated with fetal bovine serum and estrogen.
We hoped that estrogen would stop the movement of cells inside the gels.
Methods
We looked at how vascular smooth muscle cells moved in the collagen layer when stimulated with fetal bovine serum.
Methods
•Pipettors •Culture dishes•Cell culture hood and incubator•Centrifuge•Water baths•Cell culture media to grow the cells•Inverted microscope, digital camera and computer
Materials Used in the Experiments
SNAPPY!
Results
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Vascular smooth muscle cells growing in collagen gels without fetal bovine serum treatment
Results
Vascular smooth muscle cells in collagen gels after treatment with Fetal Bovine Serum
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Results
Vascular smooth muscle cells in collagen gels treated with Fetal Bovine Serum and Estrogen
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Conclusions
Vascular smooth muscle cells look different depending on whether they are grown on plastic culture dishes or in collagen gels
Conclusions
Fetal bovine serum did not cause any movement of the cells
Estrogen treatment may cause these cells to remain more rounded
FBS-treated cells FBS+Estrogen treated cells
Summary
These two weeks have been fun… even cleaning up the lab was cool!!
I learned about a different type of science that I had no idea about.
Working with the cells in the hood was fun but using SNAPPY to get images of cells was the best part!
Special thanks to:
Dr. AbrahamJanice Jackson-FreemanDr. WebsterEmily Bloom
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