Human gingival fibroblasts induced and differentiated into vascular endothelial‐like cells

Abstract

A novel method for repair of vascular disease, mechanical damage, and tissue rebuilding is urgently required. Vascular endothelial cells (VECs) play an essential role in vascular rebuilding and vasotransplantation. In the present study, human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) were cultured and induced into endothelial-like cells in vitro in order to confirm that HGFs with stem cell properties possessed the potential for differentiation into endothelial-like cells. The epithelium was extracted from normal human gingiva consisting of epithelium and connective tissue, which was isolated from patients. The identification of HGFs and induced endothelial-like cells were confirmed by flow cytometry, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunocytochemical stain (ICS), and immunofluorescence stain (ISA). The morphology of human gingival fibroblasts with 8 ng/mL VEGF165 induced for different periods of days were observed by inverted microscope. Before induction, flow cytometry analysis showed that HGFs were positive for vimentin, but negative for CD31. RT-PCR, ICS, and ISA showed vimentin, S100A4, α-SMA, collagen III, and S100A4 were specifically expressed in these fibroblast cells. After induction, ICS showed induced vascular endothelial-like cells were positive for CD34 and CD31; ISA showed cells induced were positive for vWF and E-cadherin; RT-PCR results demonstrated that tie2 was specifically expressed in the cells induced. Flow cytometry analysis of the transformation efficiency from HGFs to endothelial-like cells. In conclusion, we found that HGFs possessed capacity for being induced and differentiated into vessel endothelial-like cells with typical and specific morphological, ultrastructural, and immunological characters of endothelial-like cells by induction with VEGF.

Study of tissue engineered vascularised oral mucosa-like structures based on ACVM-0.25% HLC-I scaffold in vitro and in vivo

“…This is also the focus of this experiment. HGFs have properties similar to stem cells and can induce trans-differentiation into VEC-like cells [12]. Therefore, in this study, VEC-like cells were used as vascularised seed cells for tissue engineered vascularised oral mucosa.…”

“…Preliminary experiments of our research group [12] showed that the endothelium-like changes in HGFs were most obvious when VEGF 165 concentration was 8 ng/mL and induction time was 35 days. On this basis, VEGF 165 was directly administered at a concentration of 8 ng/mL for induction for 35 days.…”

“…In this study, human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs), human gingival epithelial cells (HGECs) and vascular endothelial-like cells (VEC-like cells) [12] were used as seed cells in combination with ACVM-0.25% HLC-I [13][14][15][16] to construct tissueengineered vascularised oral mucosa-like structures in vitro and in vivo, and attempted to establish deep blood vessel connections through vascularisation, aiming at repairing tissue damage.…”

Mineralization Induction of Gingival Fibroblasts and Construction of a Sandwich Tissue-Engineered Complex for Repairing Periodontal Defects

“…Quercitrin has been used to alter biomarker production, related to periodontal regeneration, in primary human gingival fibroblasts [ 20 ]. Recently, we have found that human gingival fibroblasts are able to differentiate into vascular endothelial-like cells and vascular smooth muscle-like cells [ 21 , 22 ]. These cells have some common characteristics, in that gingival fibroblasts and periodontal ligament stem cells both show high expression of CD73 and CD90 [ 23 ].…”

The histochemical features of the endothelium of the tooth-alveolar complex in inflammation and osteoporosis

“…Damage to the endothelium has an important role in the pathogenesis of a variety of systemic pathologies (e.g., hypoxia, metabolic disorders, and atherosclerosis), because it initiates blood coagulation and blood vessel spasm after injury. Structural and functional studies of the endothelium have revealed its crucial role in the pathogenesis of PD [4,8]. Biologically active endothelial cells participate in various mechanisms of homeostasis, including local circulation mechanisms.…”