Phase contrast microscopy on cultured endothelial cells as alarm system for toxic agents

The authors cultured endothelial cell monolayer from umbilical cord on biofunctionalized glass substrate. They characterize the density of the cell monolayers with phase contrast microscopy which is particularly suited to the examination of living cells, tissues and micro-organisms. The authors investigate the effect of thrombin on endothelial cell monolayers with the same technique. They find that the endothelial cells began to shrink after adding 0.1 U/ml thrombin. They show that the shrinkage of the endothelial cells in a confluent monolayer first resulted in gap formation between the cells.