Roles of telocytes in the development of angiogenesis

Abstract

Telocytes are cells with telopodes, which distinguish them from other interstitial cells. According to the study of lung, it was confirmed that telocytes were mainly distributed in the alveolar interstitial tissues connected tightly with alveolar epithelia cells and participated in the structure of air-blood barrier, in the small vein and bronchioles and in the interstitial space of smooth muscle participated in the frame structure of the blood and bronchioles. Telocytes are positive to CD34 and C-kit which expressed on the surface of hemopoietic stem cells, and are proposed to participate in the angiogenesis. In this chapter, we try to clarify the morphological characteristics of lung telocytes, both in tissues and culture, and introduce the experiences on the method of telocytes isolation and primary culture. The proteomics analysis of lung telocytes through iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification) was also discussed and it will provide new research directions in the future.