Endothelial stem cells and precursors for tissue engineering: cell source, differentiation, selection, and application.
Endothelial cells are of great interest because of their potential in cell therapy for vascular diseases and ischemic tissue, tissue engineering for vascular grafts and vascularized tissue beds, and modeling for pharmaceutical transport across endothelial barriers. However, limited availability and proliferation capability of mature endothelial cells hampers development of these applications. Recent advances in stem cell technology have enabled researchers to derive endothelial or endothelial-like cells from stem cells or other precursor populations. The current state of these cell sources and their in vitro differentiation, selection, and applications are discussed in this review.
Kim
Saejeong
S
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
von Recum
Horst
H
D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*