Collagen gels - Problems with growth of endothelial cells on collagen gels (Jun/27/2002 )

I've got a problem with Vitrogen collagen gels. I'm preparing collagen gels as described in the product description and seed endothelial cells on them (primary HUVEC and HUV-EC-C cell line ATCC CRL-1730). The cells attach, spread and form clusters, but in contrast to cultivation in standard dishes, they don't proliferate anymore and don't form confluent monolayers. After 24 h cultivation on the gel, cells start to detach from the surface and undergo apoptosis. Does anybody knows what's going wrong ?

I would try a different cell line, if possible . Perhaps you could try an immortalized HUVEC cell line or other similar cell line. I tried growing HUVEC cells in collagen gels and they didn't do all that well either. HUVEC should grow better on top of collagen, so you may just need to adjust the pH of the gel