Figure 2

Isolation and culture of rat brain and spinal cord microvascular endothelial cells. Following BSA density centrifugation and enzymatic digestion, isolated rat brain and spinal cord microvessel fragments were plated out onto collagen 1/fibronectin coated tissue culture plates. On plating, (a) brain and (d) spinal cord microvessels exhibit a “beads-on-string” appearance with rounded endothelial cells present on the surface (20× objective magnification). After 2–3 days in culture, (b) brain and (e) spinal cord endothelial cells are clearly visible migrating from the microvessels onto the matrix-coated tissue culture dish (10× objective magnification). After 5–7 days in culture both (c) brain and (f) spinal cord endothelial cells form a pure, near confluent monolayer (10× objective magnification).