Inducement of endothelial progenitor cells from rabbit bone marrow in vitro

Aim: To explore how to get high-concentration rabbit endothelial progenitor cells.Methods: The bone marrow from the both lower limbs of the rabbit was extracted, and the mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density-gradient centrifugation. The isolated cells were induced by VEGF and bFGF, and the changes of the cells′ shape and the surface antigen(CD34,CD133,CD31) were observed.Results: The cells clustered on the 2nd day,most of them were spindle in shape,and formed cord-like structure on the 4th day. Compared with those before inducement, the positive rates of CD34, CD133, and CD31 of the 2nd generation cells had no distinct changes, however, the positive rate of CD133 of the 3rd generation cells descended and that of CD31 ascended,P0.05. Conclusion: The mononuclear cells isolated from the bone marrow of rabbit can be induced into the cells which have the characteristics of endothelial progenitor cells.