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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Isolation and Culture of Endothelial Cells from the Embryonic Forebrain
Published on: January 23, 2014
Human vascular endothelium heterogeneity. A comparative study of cerebral and peripheral cultured vascular
E Thorin1, M A Shatos, S M Shreeve
1Department of Pharmacology, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA. thorin@icm.umontreal.ca
Background And Purpose:
Hormones, neurotransmitters, and autacoids play a key role in the regulation of vascular tone as a result of their interaction with the endothelium. The aim of this study was to compare selected properties of three human endothelial cell lines isolated from cerebral pial arteries (PEC) and two peripheral vessels, the superficial temporal (SEC) and omental (OEC) arteries.
Methods:
Intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) and receptor protein expression were measured in characterized primary cultures of human endothelial cells.
Results:
All cell lines labeled positively for factor VIII/von Willebrand factor. Growth rate and constitutive release of endothelin-1, expressed as a function of protein, were both significantly lower in cerebral cells (PEC) than in endothelial cells derived from peripheral vessels. Basal [Ca2+]i measured with the fluorescent calcium indicator fura 2-AM (2 mumol/L) did not differ in either of the three cell lines. Although PEC responded to endothelin-1 (0.1 mumol/L) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (1 mumol/L) by a twofold to threefold increase in [Ca2+]i, OEC were unresponsive to these peptides. Moreover, the calcium response to alpha-thrombin (10 nmol/L) was greater in cerebral (PEC) than in peripheral (SEC, OEC) endothelial cells, while bradykinin (100 nmol/L) increased [Ca2+]i to a similar level in all three cell types.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates that endothelial cells from different sites of the vasculature exhibit different growth rates and vary in their response to agonists.
