Artikel
Cellular interaction of human endothelial progenitor cells and preadipocytes for adipose tissue engineering
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Veröffentlicht: | 20. Mai 2011 |
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Gliederung
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Introduction: Autologous fat grafting suffers from the major disadvantage of significant resorption of the transplant due to an insufficient vascularisation. Thus, a novel strategy to enhance neovascularisation of adipose tissue transplants might be the co-implantation of preadipocytes with endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). However, no knowledge is given about the characterisation of EPCs for neovascularisation of tissue engineered adipose tissue. The aim of this study is to examine whether human preadipocytes have a stimulatory effect on capillary-like structure formation of EPCs in vitro.
Materials and methods: Preadipocytes were isolated from human fat tissue and EPCs from buffycoats of human peripheral blood. In direct comparison to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), EPCs were analysed for their phenotype, the ability to incorporate acetylated low density lipoprotein and their angiogenic potential in 2-dimensional Matrigel sprouting assays (n=5) and 3-dimensional spheroid sprouting assays (n=5). The spheroid sprouting assay was also applied for analysing preadipocyte-endothelial cell interaction on endothelial cell sprouting by preadipocytes-conditioned medium or direct co-culture.
Results: EPCs express the markers CD31, CD34, CD144 and vWF whereas expression of CD14 and CD45 was not detectable. Moreover, EPCs were able to endocytose acetylated low density lipoprotein and to form tube-like structures. Preadipocytes-conditioned medium had no influence on sprout formation in either EPCs or HUVECs, however, in direct co-culture preadipocytes stimulated sprout formation of EPCs but not of HUVECs.
Conclusion: The results indicate that preadipocytes have a positive influence on EPC sprout formation and thus highlight the importance of direct cellular contact between preadipocytes and EPCs. In conclusion, EPCs require direct cellular contact with preadipocytes to form tube-like structures and are therefore a suitable cell population for neovascularisation of tissue engineered adipose tissue.