NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've developed a technique to generate functional endothelial blood vessel cells from human embryonic and pluripotent stem cells.
The researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical College said endothelial cells form the interior "lining" of all blood vessels and are the main component of capillaries, the smallest and most abundant vessels. They said that, in the near future, it might be possible to inject such cells into humans to heal damaged organs and tissues.
The medical scientists said their new approach allows the generation of virtually unlimited quantities of durable endothelial cells -- more than 40-fold the quantity possible with previous approaches -- and might also yield new ways to study genetically inherited vascular diseases.
"This technique is the first of its kind with serious potential as a treatment for a diverse array of diseases, especially cardiovascular disease, stroke and vascular complications of diabetes," said Dr. Shahin Rafii, the study's senior author and a professor of genetic medicine.
The study is reported in the early online edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
