Investigating the Effect of Mechanical Stimuli on Omental Mesothelium Differentiation

Cell sourcing for tissue engineered approaches to vascular repair is a serious issue confronting the field of cardiovascular tissue engineering. Omental mesothelium is a promising autologous cell source for vascular repair and has been used for numerous other therapies [1]. Until recently, omental mesothelium was only thought to play a paracrine role in wound healing but there is increasing evidence that omental mesothelium can undergo divergent terminal differentiation to reparative vasculogenic cell types including: endothelial cells, fibroblasts, or vascular smooth muscle cells.