Effects of vascular endothelial growth factor on the biological characteristics of rat bone marrow endothelial progenitor cells.

Objective To investigate the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)on the biological functions of rat bone marrow endothelial progenit cells (EPC).Methods Total mononuclear cells (MNCs)were extracted from rat bone marrow by density gradient centrifugation.After cultured for 7 d,the attached cells were collected and incubated with VEGF in a series of concentrations (0 ng/ml,10 ng/ml,50 ng/ml).The EPC's capability of proliferation,migration,in vitro vasculogenesis,and differentiation into endothelial cell were evaluated with MTT assay,Transwell chamber assay,Fibrin-gel and flow cytometry,respectively.Results At 7 days after culture,the positive rates of CD133 and CD34 were 69.44%and 81.05%;MTT assay results showed the OD value of 10 ng/ml group was higher than that of the 0 ng/ml and the 50 ng/ml groups significantly,while the 0 ng/ml group was higher than that of the 50 ng/ml group(P 0.05);migration,in vitro vasculogenesis and differentiation analysis results demonstrated that the capability of promoting the EPC migration,in vitro vascularization and the differentiation,compare in 50 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml groups was stronger than 0 ng/ml group,while the capability of 50 ng/ml group was stronger than 10 ng/ml group (P 0.05).Conclusion VEGF could promote the migration,in vitro vasculogenesis and differentiation of EPC dose-dependently.VEGF could also promote the proliferation of EPC,but the higher the concentration of VEGF was,the promoting effects the weaker.