关键词: 内皮祖细胞, 体外扩增, 生物学特性, 血管发生, 临床应用

Abstract: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are the precursor cells of the vascular endothelial cells. EPCs is now being more and more introduced into the basic research in medicine, cell biology and other fields about vascular disease with the study of its culture, identification, homing and differentiation. Studies have shown that endothelial progenitor cells can promote wound healing and the recovery of vascular function, becoming a new method to construct cardiovascular tissue engineering. This paper reviewed the biological characteristics of EPCs and its application in animal ischemia models and clinical trial. The paper also analyzed the challenge of EPCs application. Finally, we prospected the research direction of EPCs in the future.

Key words: endothelial progenitor cell, exvivo expansion, biological properties, vasculogenesis, clinical application