内皮祖细胞在血管组织工程的应用

Application of Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Vascular Tissue Engineering

内皮祖细胞是一群具有游走特性,能进一步增殖分化成为成熟内皮细胞的幼稚内皮细胞。内皮祖细胞参与了出生后缺血组织的血管发生和血管损伤后的修复。内皮祖细胞的发现为血管组织工程种子细胞增添了一个新来源。本文重点介绍成体内皮祖细胞的来源、鉴定、生物学特性、功能以及在血管组织工程中的应用。

Endothelial progenitor cells （EPCs） are immature endothelial cells which have the capacity to proliferate, migrate and differentiate into mature endothelial cells from bone marrow to the peripheral circulation. EPCs have been shown to participate in postnatal endothelial repair and neovascularization of ischemic organs, and have been used as a new source of seeded cells in vascular tissue engineering. In this review, we focus on the origin, identification, property and function of EPCs as well as their application in vascular tissue engineering.