TVHS VA Medical Center 1 article published in JoVE Biology Development of a Cell Co-Culture Model to Mimic Cardiac Ischemia/Reperfusion In Vitro Zhu Li1, Matthew J. W. Hampton1, Matthew B. Barajas1, Matthias L. Riess1,2,3 1Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2Anesthesiology, TVHS VA Medical Center, 3Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Spatial distance is a key parameter in assessing hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in a co-culture model of separate endothelial and cardiomyocyte cell layers, suggesting, for the first time, that optimizing the co-culture spatial environment is necessary to provide a favorable in vitro model for testing the role of endothelial cells in cardiomyocyte protection.