human blood vessel–derived endothelial progenitors for endothelialization of small diameter vascular prosthesis人类血液vessel-derived内皮祖细胞对药物的小直径血管假肢.pdfVIP

Human Blood Vessel–Derived Endothelial Progenitors for Endothelialization of Small Diameter Vascular Prosthesis 1 2 3¤ 2 4 Amaresh K. Ranjan , Umesh Kumar , Ashutosh A. Hardikar , Pankaj Poddar , Prabha D. Nair , Anandwardhan A. Hardikar1* 1 Stem Cells and Diabetes Section, National Center for Cell Science, Pune, India, 2 Materials Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, 3 Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, India, 4 Division of Tissue Engineering and regeneration Technologies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India Abstract Background: Coronary bypass graft failure as a result of acute thrombosis and intimal hyperplasia has been the major challenge in surgical procedures involving small-diameter vascular prosthesis. Coating synthetic grafts with patients’ own endothelial cells has been suggested to improve the patency rate and overall success of bypass surgeries. Methodology/Principal Findings: We isolated endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from leftover pieces of human saphenous vein/mammary artery. We demonstrate that EPCs can be expanded to generate millions of cells under low-density culture conditions. Exposure to high-density conditions induces differentiation to endothelial cell phenotype. EPC–derived endothelial cells show expression of CD144high, CD31, and vWF. We then assessed the ability of differentiated endothelial cells to adhere and grow on small diameter expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) tubings. Since ePTFE tubings are highly hydrophobic, we optimized protocols to introduce hydrophilic groups on luminal surface of ePTFE tubings. W