Morphology and characterization of human EPCs from peripheral blood.

<p>MNCs were plated on a fibronectin-coated culture dish on the first day (A). Four days after plating, adherent early EPCs with a spindle shape were shown (B). Three weeks after plating, endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) with a cobblestone-like morphology were selected, reseeded, and grown to confluence (E). ECFCs were characterized by immunofluorescence detection of CD34 (F), CD31 (G), VE-cadherin (H), KDR(I), and AC133 (J). Early EPCs and ECFCs were shown to simultaneously bind fluorescein isothiocyanate UEA-1 (lectin, green; C, K) and endocytose DiI-acLDL (red; D, L). Cells were counterstained with DAPI for the nuclei (blue).