Oral Mucosa Harbors a High Frequency of Endothelial Cells: A Novel Postnatal Cell Source for Angiogenic Regeneration.

ABSTRACT: Endothelial progenitor cells/endothelial cells (EPCs/ECs) have great potential to treat pathological conditions such as cardiac infarction, muscle ischemia, and bone fractures, but isolation of EPC/ECs from existing cell sources is challenging due to their low EC frequency. We have isolated endothelial progenitor (EP)-like cells from rat oral mucosa and characterized their yield, immunophenotype, growth, and in vivo angiogenic potential. The frequency of EP-like cells derived from oral mucosa is thousands of folds higher than EPCs derived from donor-match bone marrow samples. EP-like cells from oral mucosa were positive for EC markers CD31, VE-Cadherin, and VEGFR2. Oral mucosa-derived EP-like cells displayed robust uptake of acetylated low-density lipoprotein and formed stable capillary ne

SUBMITTER: Zhou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5248543 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature