Human versus bovine endothelial cell culture on glass and tissue-culture plastic

Abstract

This work demonstrates that human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs; Passages 1 and 5) attach to and grow on glass poorly in comparison to bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs; Passage 5). Seventeen hours after seeding passage 5 cells, there are 6.0±0.1 × 103 HUVECs/cm2 (mean±SE,n=12) on gelatin-coated glass, vs. 29.3±1.5 × 103 BAECs/cm2. This poor attachment and growth is due to a dependence of HUVECs on surface charge and preadsorbed fibronectin not shared by BAECs, because both cell types proliferate on tissue culture plastic and HUVECs can be made to grow comparably well on gelatin-coated glass by the further addition of poly-l-lysine and fibronectin. These data indicate the existence of a human-bovine species difference with respect to endothelial cell adhesion to and growth on glass.