Autologous tissue patches acquire vascular identity depending on the environment

• Main Authors: Hualong Bai, Jianming Guo, Shirley Liu, Xiangjiang Guo, Haidi Hu, Tun Wang, Toshihiko Isaji, Shun Ono, Bogdan Yatsula, Ying Xing, Alan Dardik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2018-01-01
• Series: Vascular Investigation and Therapy
• Subjects: artery; endothelial cell; patch; patch angioplasty; vascular identity; vein
• Online Access: http://www.vitonline.org/article.asp?issn=2589-9686;year=2018;volume=1;issue=1;spage=14;epage=23;aulast=Bai
• ISSN: 2589-9686; 2589-9481

Background: Vascular identity is genetically determined but can be altered during surgical procedures. Methods: We hypothesized that the environment of the procedure critically alters the identity of autologous tissue patches implanted into the arterial or venous environment. Results: Autologous jugular vein or carotid artery was used as a patch to repair a rat aorta or inferior vena cava. In the aortic environment, patches contained neointimal cells that were CD34/ephrin-B2-dual positive but not CD34/Eph-B4-dual positive; patches expressed ephrin-B2, notch-4, and dll-4 but not Eph-B4 and COUP-TFII. In the venous environment, patches contained neointimal cells that were CD34/Eph-B4-dual positive but not CD34/ephrin-B2-dual positive; patches expressed Eph-B4 and COUP-TFIIbut not ephrin-B2, notch-4, and dll-4. Conclusion: These data show that autologous tissue patches heal by acquisition of the vascular identity determined by the environment into which they are implanted, suggesting some plasticity of adult vascular identity.