Shear stress and VEGF enhance endothelial differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells

Herein we combine chemical and mechanical stimulation to investigate the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and physiological shear stress in promoting the differentiation human adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) into endothelial cells. ADSCs were isolated and characterized; endothelial differentiation was promoted by culturing confluent cells in 50ng/ml VEGF under physiological shear stress for up to 14 days. Afterwards, endothelial cells were seeded onto collagen or acellular aortic valve matrices and exposed to 4 culture conditions: shear stress+VEGF; shear stress-VEGF; static+VEGF and static-VEGF. After 7 days, phenotype was investigated. ADSCs subjected to shear stress and VEGF express a comprehensive range of specific endothelial markers(vWF, eNOS and FLT-1 after 7 days and CD31, FLk-1 and VE-cadherinafter 14 days)and maintainthe phenotype when seeded onto scaffolds. Our protocol proved to bean efficient source of endothelial-like cells for tissue engineering based on autologous adipose-derived stem cell