Abstract
Endothelial progenitors play an important role in both postnatal vasculogenesis and vascular homeostasis. Based on proliferative potential, we have recently identified a hierarchy of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) in human blood and blood vessels. We questioned whether the hierarchy of ECFCs also existed in the swine and whether a cardiovascular stress would affect this hierarchy. Therefore, we investigated the distribution of ECFCs by a single cell endothelial colony forming assay in normal pigs and pigs following acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) (n=5) or placement of a coronary stent (n=3). In normal animals, the hierarchy of ECFCs was present in circulating blood and aortic endothelium. In experimental pigs with AMI, the percent of single cells derived from peripheral blood that formed colonies doubled after 45 minutes of AMI. Moreover, the percent of high proliferative potential ECFC (HPP-ECFC) (>2000 cells/colony) was significantly increased by16-fold after 45 minutes of AMI compared to baseline (2.5%) and 2-fold higher than the frequency measured from the samples obtained at sacrifice 7 days later (14%). On the other hand, the percent of endothelial cluster (2-50 cells/colony) was reduced more than 3 fold following 45 minutes of AMI. The percent of HPP-ECFC from aortic endothelium in the stented pigs was 3-fold higher than that observed in the control pigs. Likewise, HPP-ECFCs were present in peripheral blood samples taken from stented pigs but were not detectable in the control pigs. These experimental animal observations (1) indicated that ECFCs circulate in the blood and are present in vascular intima in the normal swine and (2) revealed that the distribution of ECFCs in the vascular endothelium and circulation are altered during the early events of cardiovascular injury. Further studies will be required to determine whether the change of ECFCs distribution is resulting from the mobilization of endothelial progenitors from bone marrow or from vascular endothelial intima.
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Huang, L., Hou, D., Johnstone, B. et al. 32 Alteration of the Distribution Of Endothelial Colony Forming Cells (ECFCS) in Swine Models of Cardiovascular Injury.. Pediatr Res 60, 495 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200610000-00054
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200610000-00054
