Effects of fibronectin and collagen on ECFC cell expansion.

<p>Collagen sustained cell expansion of ECFCs more efficiently than fibronectin. 14 ECFC colonies were divided into portions, with half of them seeded on fibronectin-coated plates and the rest seeded on collagen-coated plates. (A) Representative phase-contrast photographs showing that ECFCs expanded on fibronectin and collagen formed similar cobblestone-like monolayers with endothelial-like morphology. Photographs were obtained using an Olympus inverted microscope IX51, x10 magnification. ECFCs cultured on collagen (gray bar) compared with fibronectin (white bar) achieved (B) higher number of passages, (C) longer lifespan and (D) higher cell yields. p values calculated by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.