Patent ID: 8192949

Claim:
A method to determine the endothelial cell specific effect of a treatment on viability of endothelial cells as compared to non-endothelial cells in a microaggregate, which method comprises (a) contacting a composition comprising at least one microaggregate comprised of viable endothelial cells and viable non-endothelial cells with said treatment, (b) adding a first indicator dye which is taken up by non-living cells and excluded by living cells; (c) sedimenting said microaggregate onto a surface for microscopic observation; (d) determining by microscopic observation the effect of said treatment on the viability specifically of endothelial cells in said microaggregate wherein non-viable endothelial cells are identified as hyperchromatic cells thus distinguishable from non-endothelial non-viable cells; whereby a treatment that is determined to effect endothelial cell death is identified as successful in killing endothelial cells; wherein steps (b) and (c) may be performed in any order.