Connexin-Based Therapeutics and Tissue Engineering Approaches to the Amelioration of Chronic Pancreatitis and Type I Diabetes: Construction and Characterization of a Novel Prevascularized Bioartificial Pancreas

Figure 1

Incorporation of islets into SPECs does not affect vascular network formation. SPECs with and without islets were generated, fixed, and whole-mount-labeled for actin (phalloidin, blue), islets (insulin, green), and endothelial cells (CD31, red). The images are maximum projections of z-stacks acquired by confocal microscopy under 20x magnification (a) and 63x magnification [(b), boxed regions in (a)]. Note the dense, web-like pattern of endothelial cells in both constructs, indicating a robust vascular network. Importantly, the vascular network surrounds the embedded islet. Scale bars represent 100 μm and 50 μm in (a) and (b), respectively.

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(b)