**3.1 Cell culture**

Human vascular smooth muscle cells (HASMC) were cultivated in smooth muscle cell medium 2 (Promocell, Heidelberg, Germany) supplemented with 5 % (v/v) FCS and human aortic endothelial (HAEC) were maintained in endothelial cell medium MV (Promocell, Heidelberg, Germany) on 100 mm culture plates. For HAEC, tissue culture plates were first coated with sterile-filtered 2 % gelatine solution for 10 min and washed twice with PBS w/o calcium and magnesium before seeding. Cells were cultivated at 37 °C in a humidified atmosphere with 5 % (v/v) CO2.
