Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Endothelial Cells Research Articles

Direct intracardiac injection of umbilical cord-derived stromal cells and umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial cells for the treatment of ischemic cardiomyopathy.

The development of new therapeutic strategies is necessary to reduce the worldwide social and economic impact of cardiovascular disease, which produces high rates of morbidity and mortality. A therapeutic option that has emerged in the last decade is cell therapy. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of transplanting human umbilical cord-derived stromal cells (UCSCs), human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial cells (UCBECs) or a combination of these two cell types for the treatment of ischemic cardiomyopathy (IC) in a Wistar rat model. IC was induced by left coronary artery ligation, and baseline echocardiography was performed seven days later. Animals with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of ≤40% were selected for the study. On the ninth day after IC was induced, the animals were randomized into the following experimental groups: UCSCs, UCBECs, UCSCs plus UCBECs, or vehicle (control). Thirty days after treatment, an echocardiographic analysis was performed, followed by euthanasia. The animals in all of the cell therapy groups, regardless of the cell type transplanted, had less collagen deposition in their heart tissue and demonstrated a significant improvement in myocardial function after IC. Furthermore, there was a trend of increasing numbers of blood vessels in the infarcted area. The median value of LVEF increased by 7.19% to 11.77%, whereas the control group decreased by 0.24%. These results suggest that UCSCs and UCBECs are promising cells for cellular cardiomyoplasty and can be an effective therapy for improving cardiac function following IC.

Comparative characteristics of endothelial-like cells derived from human adipose mesenchymal stem cells and umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial cells

Adult peripheral blood contains a limited number of endothelial progenitor cells that can be isolated for treatment of ischemic diseases. The adipose tissue became an interesting source of stem cells for regenerative medicine. This study aimed to investigate the phenotype of cells obtained by culturing adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ad-MSCs) in the presence of endothelial growth supplements compared to endothelial cells obtained from umbilical cord blood (UCB). Passage 3 ad-MSCs and mononuclear layer from UCB were cultured in presence of endothelial growth media for 3weeks followed by their characterization by flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction. After culture in endothelial inductive media, ad-MSCs expressed endothelial genes and some endothelial marker proteins as CD31 and CD34, respectively. Adipose tissue could be a reliable source for easy obtaining, expanding and differentiating MSCs into endothelial-like cells for autologous cell-based therapy.

Analysis of Serum-Free Culture of Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Endothelial Cells

Analysis of Serum-Free Culture of Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Endothelial Cells