Isolation and culturing of human vascular smooth muscle cells

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) results from amyloid accumulation within arteries of the cerebral cortex and leptomeninges. This condition is age-related, especially prevalent in Alz-heimer's disease (AD), and the main feature of certain hereditary disorders (i.e., HCHWA-I). The vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) appear to play a vital role in the development of CAA, which makes them well-suited as an experimental model to study the disease and screen for possible remedies. We describe two different methods for isolating and culturing human VSMCs. First, using the human umbilical cord as an easy source of robust cells, and secondly, using brain tissue that provides the proper cerebral VSMCs, but is more problematic to work with. Finally the maintenance, preservation, and characterization of the isolated VSMCs are described.