Isolation,culture and identification of human endothelial progenitor cells from peripheral blood

Objective:To investigate the methods of isolating and culturing endothelial progenitor cells(EPCs)from human peripheral blood.Method:Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC)were isolated from normal persons and put into the culture plate previously coated by rat tail collagen.Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of CD34,CD133 and KDR of the cultured cells,and immunofluorescence was performed to display the character of endocytosing UEA-I and acLDL.Result:Most of the cultured cells displayed a fibroblast-like morphology adhering to the culture plate.They expressed CD34,CD133 and KDR.They could show endocytose of UEA-I and acLDL,too.Conclusion:EPCs were successfully cultured from PBMC.Rat tail collagen is much cheaper than fibronectin and can be used in culturing EPCs.