Relationship between aging and the number and function of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells in rats / 中华心血管病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between aging and the number and function of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The number and function of bone marrow-derived EPC were measured in 4, 10 and 18 months old rats (n = 10 in each group). Mononuclear cells (MNC) were isolated from rat bone marrow by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation and cultured for 7 days, EPC were identified as adherent cells double positive stained for FITC-UEA-I and DiI-acLDL under laser confocal immunofluence microscopy. Boyden chamber was used to determine the migration capacity of EPC and the number of recultured EPC was counted to test the adherent function of EPC.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The number (42.0 +/- 5.8 vs 30.8 +/- 4.7 vs 21.5 +/- 4.7 per field) and the migration and adhesion capacities of EPC were significantly reduced with aging.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This study shows that the number and function of EPC are decreased with aging.</p>