Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and Europe. In recent years, the understanding that regenerative processes exist at the level of the myocardium, has placed stem cell research at center stage in cardiology. A stem cell is a cell that has the ability to divide (self replicate) for indefinite periods often throughout the life of the ...

Currently, there is a considerable interest to the assessment of blood-brain barrier (BBB) development as a part of cerebral angiogenesis developmental program. Embryonic and adult angiogenesis in the brain is governed by the coordinated activity of endothelial progenitor cells, brain microvascular endothelial cells, and non-endothelial cells contributing to the establishment of the BBB (pericy...

objective(s):to know whether scurrula atropurpurea is able to modulate total plasma nitrate/nitrite levels, decrease endothelial damage, and increase endothelial progenitor cells (epcs) in hypertensive rats. materials and methods: the rats were divided in 5 groups: control (normotensive) group, desoxy cortico sterone (doca)-salt hypertensive group, and three doca-salt hypertensive groups. all 5...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) on adhesion and differentiation of human CD34(+) cells into endothelial progenitor cells. METHODS AND RESULTS Tissue healing and vascular regeneration is a multistep process requiring firm adhesion of circulating progenitor cells to the vascular wall and their further differentiation into endothelial cells. The role o...

BACKGROUND Endothelial progenitor cells play an important role in vascular wall repair. Patients with type 1 diabetes have reduced levels of endothelial progenitor cells of which their functional capacity is impaired. Reduced nitric oxide bioavailability and increased oxidative stress play a role in endothelial progenitor cell dysfunction in these patients. Folic acid, a B-vitamin with anti-oxi...

Atherosclerosis is the most common cause for cardiovascular diseases and is based on endothelial dysfunction. A growing body of evidence suggests the contribution of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells, monocytic cells, and mature endothelial cells to vessel formation and endothelial rejuvenation. To this day, various subsets of these endothelial-regenerating cells have been identi...

Mobilization of endogenous endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from the bone marrow may be an alternative way to increase neovascularization and may be used as therapeutic option for the treatment of ischemic cardiovascular diseases. In this review, we discuss the EPC mobilizing effects of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as granolocyte monocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte colony-s...

Human endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been generally defined as circulating cells that express a variety of cell surface markers similar to those expressed by vascular endothelial cells, adhere to endothelium at sites of hypoxia/ischemia, and participate in new vessel formation. Although no specific marker for an EPC has been identified, a panel of markers has been consistently used as...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of physiological ischaemia training on the quantity and activity of endothelial progenitor cells in rabbits with intermittent myocardial ischaemia. METHODS A reversible coronary artery water balloon occluder (5.0 mm inner diameter) was placed around the proximal left ventricular branch and intermittent myocardial ischaemia was induced by deflation and infl...