, 2005). Therefore potential learnings from this field can be obtained by considering not only how long, but also how often, cells are exposed to cigarette smoke in cardiovascular disease in vitro models. The use learn more of co-culture methodologies is yet another area of emphasis for the development of predictive models of cardiovascular disease that increase the ability to simulate in vivo conditions. The cardiovascular system is not a discrete set of individual cell types in isolation or even in close proximity, but is a series of interacting cells which communicate and modulate the activity and processes within other

cells. Although not a true co-culture, perhaps the simplest approach to this issue is the use of conditioned media. In such studies, a primary cell type (e.g. lung epithelial cells) is exposed to cigarette smoke or its extracts. Subsequent to this exposure, the culture media is then withdrawn and buy Alectinib used as an exposure agent for a secondary cell type (e.g. vascular endothelial cells). This approach essentially exposes the secondary cell to protein mediators such as inflammatory cytokines which have been secreted from the cells exposed to

cigarette smoke (e.g. Totlandsdal et al., 2008). Further complexity can be introduced to this approach by integrating other cell types, such as liver hepatocytes to provide metabolic capability, into a culture system to generate a true co-culture ( Vozzi et al., 2009). While this approach has some advantages, it does not possess the ability to re-create the intimate physical and paracrine coupling of cells which occurs in Tacrolimus (FK506) vivo. These cell interactions may predominantly occur at the site of entry of cigarette smoke into the bloodstream ( Boitano et al., 2004), or within the vessel wall itself. For example, the extremely close proximity of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells facilitates both the electrical and chemical coupling of the two cell types and this may be important

in controlling vessel function and in the early development of atherosclerotic lesions ( Dora, 2010, Truskey, 2010 and Vanhoutte, 2010). Co-culture systems utilising smooth muscle and endothelial cells have been developed using a number of approaches including direct culture of the two cell types and growing each cell type on either side of a membrane ( Truskey, 2010). The ability to culture cells in this way has also lead to the development of a high-throughput screening system for novel pharmacological agents targeting the cardiovascular system. While such techniques have yet to be utilised to examine the cardiovascular effects of cigarette smoke, it is likely that such an approach would yield a wealth of mechanistic information as well as provide a powerful testing tool for assessing the biological effects of smoke from cigarettes with modified toxicant yields.