Stem Cells and Vascular Regenerative Medicine Available to Purchase

Vascular applications in regenerative medicine include blood vessel substitutes and vasculogenesis in ischemic or engineered tissues. For these repair processes to be successful, there is a need for a stable supply of endothelial and smooth muscle cells. For blood vessel substitutes, the immediate goal is to enable blood flow, but vasoactivity is necessary for long term success. In engineered vessels, it is thought that endothelial cells will serve as an anti-thrombogenic lumenal layer, while smooth muscle cells contribute to vessel contractility. In other clinical applications, what is needed is not a vessel substitute but the promotion of new vessel formation (vasculogenesis). A simplified account of vasculogenesis is that endothelial cells assemble to form vessel-like structures that can then be stabilized by smooth muscle cells. Overall, the need for new vasculature to transfer oxygen and nutrients is important to reperfuse not only ischemic tissue in vivo, but also dense, structurally complex engineered tissue. The impact of these vascular therapies, however, is limited in part by the low yield and inadequate in vitro proliferation potential of primary endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Thus, there is a need to address the cell sourcing issue for vascular cell-based therapies, potentially using stem cells.