Fig. 5

Quantification of endothelial networks at day 5 of MSC coculture with the aortic ring assay. Phase-contrast microscope images of MSC treatment groups taken at day 5 following MSC coculture and utilized to quantify network properties including mean network growth and mean network loop formation (a). Both FTM HUCPVCs contributed to greater network growth when compared to BMSC cocultures (p ≤ 0.001). FTM 1 and FTM 2 contributed to greater network growth when compared to untreated networks (p ≤ 0.001, p ≤ 0.05 respectively). BMSC cocultures contributed to inferior network growth when compared to untreated endothelial networks (p ≤ 0.05) (b). p calculated using one-way ANOVA as p = 0.0001 using Tukey’s post test (N = 3, n = 2). Network loops with at least four closed sides were quantified (c). Both FTM 1 and FTM 1 cocultures developed greater network loops when compared to BMSC cocultures (p ≤ 0.001, p ≤ 0.05 respectively). There was no statistical difference between BMSCs and untreated aortic networks. FTM 1 contributed to greater closed loops when compared to untreated networks (p ≤ 0.05). Average of four fields of endothelial networks quantified. p calculated using one-way ANOVA as p = 0.0008 using Tukey’s post test (N = 3, n = 2). Scale bar = 250 μm. For pairwise comparison: *p ≤ 0.05,***p ≤ 0.001. BMSC bone marrow stromal cell, FTM first trimester