3D study of capillary network derived from human cord blood mesenchymal stem cells and differentiated into endothelial cell with VEGFR2 protein expression

Background and aim: new blood forming vessels are produced by differentiationof mesodermal precursor cells to angioblasts that become endothelial cells (ecs)which in turn give rise to primitive capillary network. human cord blood (hcb)contains large subsets of mononuclear cells (mncs) that can be differentiated intoendothelial-like cells in vitro.methods: human mononuclear progenitor cells were purified from freshumbilical cord blood by the expression of cd34 and flk-1 antigens expressed inboth angioblasts and hematopoetic stem cells. the hcb derived mesenchymalstem cells (mscs) can differentiate into adipocyte, osteocyte, chondrocyte andecs.results: in this study, the differentiation of human cord blood mesenchymal stemcells (hcbmscs) into endothelial-like cells was induced in presence of vascularendothelial growth factor (vegf) and insulin-like growth factor (igf-1). thedifferentiated ecs were then examined for their ability to express vegf receptor-2 (vegfr2) and von willebrand factor (vwf). these cells were adopted to grow,proliferate and develop into a capillary network in a semisolid gel matrix in vitro.conclusion: the capillary network formation in each well of 24-well plate wasfound to be 80% in presence of vegf (40 ng/ml) and igf-1 (20 ng/ml) of culturemedia, suggesting that the capillary network formation is associated withendothelial-like cells derived from hcbmscs by expression of their markers.