The effect of the interstitial flow on the directional cell migration and sprouting of capillaries

Development of functional endothelium in tissue engineering is both critical and challenging. It is critical because of its role in transporting nutrient and waste in tissues larger than the length scale of diffusion. It is challenging because of its complexity in both the chemical and mechanical environments actively evolving in both space and time. In addition to the signals from the microenvironment, cells are more than likely to receive global signaling as well. The goal of the overall project is to establish a functional endothelium for a long period of time under the optimal chemical and physical conditions. This master's thesis project focuses specifically on the effect of interstitial fluid flow on the capillary morphogenesis process. Interstitial fluid flow is defined as flow perpendicular to the endothelial monolayer, as opposed to shear flow which is parallel. Interstitial flow is an essential process in vivo both in normal physiology and pathology. Liver filtration system, angiogenesis during wound healing, vasculogenesis during fetal development and lymphoangiogenesis are a few examples that depend heavily on interstitial flow. Pathologically, interstitial flow is observed when the vessels are abnormally leaky, such as the case in tumor-induced angiogenesis.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Wan, Chen-rei

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roger Kamm.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40366

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40366