Endothelial progenitor cells: Procedure for cell isolation and applications

Abstract

Bone marrow endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have shown a great promise to promote ischemic tissue neovascularization and to attenuate ischemic injury in a variety of animal models, which led to EPC-based clinical trials that yielded modest but promising results. Some of the variables in the use of EPCs relate to their differential isolation and characterization protocols since the EPC literature does not identify a unique marker for these vascular progenitors. In this chapter, we present step-by-step protocols for the isolation of EPCs, their characterization and culture conditions, and their potential use in basic and clinical research.