The identification and culture methods of endothelial progenitor cells / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

In the last 10 years,an increasing interest has been devoted to the study of endothelial progenitor cells(EPCs).Alteration and/or reduction of the circulating EPCs have/has been associated with different manifestation of cardiovascular disorders.Thererfore,EPCs have been extensively studied as biomarkers of cardiovascular disease and as a cell-based therapy for repair of damaged blood vessels.In the review,we focus on two methodologies used to identify and enumerate EPCs in the majority of studies up to date.