The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relevance of long-term endothelial cell culture
as a model system of vascular ageing. Micro-and macrovascular endothelial cells were
serially passaged until replicative senescence and their ability to form tube-like structures
when cultured on Matrigel was assessed throughout their lifespan. For both cell types low
passage cultures adopted a homogeneous cobblestone morphology, while senescent
cultures were extremely heterogeneous. Furthermore, both cell types showed a reduction in …