Endothelial Progenitor Cells and NADPH Oxidase Enzyme Activity in the Development of an Aortic Aneurysm

Abstract Introduction: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase enzyme activity may affect the vessel wall and have a role in development of aortic aneurysms. EPCs originate from hematopoietic stem cells and can be enumerated from peripheral blood samples by flow cytometry. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relation of EPC number and NADPH oxidase enzyme activity in the development of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA). Methods: Patients with TAA (n=30) and healthy individuals without TAA (control, n=10) were included in our study. Characterization and enumeration of EPC from peripheral blood samples were performed by flow cytometry with panels including markers of EPCs (CD34/CD133/CD309/CD146/CD144). Additionally, NADPH oxidase enzyme activity (capacity) was also measured by the dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR 123) test. Results: The enumeration of EPC with CD34+/CD146+ marker showed that the number of mean EPC/106 cells was increased in the patient group (41.5/106 cells), but not in the control group (20.50/105 cells) (P摘要 引言：内皮祖细胞（Endothelial progenitor cells, EPCs）与烟酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸磷酸（NADPH）氧化酶活性可能对血管壁产生影响，并在主动脉瘤的发生发展中发挥作用。EPCs起源于造血干细胞，可通过流式细胞术（flow cytometry）对外周血样本中的EPCs进行计数。本研究旨在探讨内皮祖细胞数量与NADPH氧化酶活性在胸主动脉瘤（Thoracic aortic aneurysm, TAA）发生发展中的关联。 方法：本研究纳入胸主动脉瘤患者（n=30）以及无胸主动脉瘤的健康个体作为对照（n=10）。通过流式细胞术，使用包含内皮祖细胞标记物CD34/CD133/CD309/CD146/CD144的标记组合，对外周血样本中的内皮祖细胞进行表征与计数。此外，通过二氢罗丹明123（Dihydrorhodamine 123, DHR 123）试验检测NADPH氧化酶活性。 结果：采用CD34+/CD146+标记物计数内皮祖细胞的结果显示，患者组的平均每10^6个细胞中的内皮祖细胞数量为41.5/10^6细胞，较对照组的20.50/10^5细胞有所升高（P