Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Enhances Proliferation of Human Tenocytes and Promotes Tenogenic Gene Expression

BACKGROUND:In obtaining human tenocytes in a sufficient number for tendon tissue engineering, low proliferation rate and phentoype loss during passaging is a problem. It was our aim to evalute the influence of VEGF on human tenocyte growth and gene expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Human tenocytes were obtained from surgical specimens and exposed to human VEGF in various concentrations (5ng/ml, 10ng/ml, 20ng/ml) for 5 days. Cell proliferation was counted and expression of tendon-related genes (Col1, Col3, TSC, SCX and ELN) was analyzed. RESULTS:Tenocyte count was 1.4x10/ml, 2.7x10/ml, 2.3x10/ml and 3.7x10/ml for 0ng, 5ng/ml, 10ng/ml and 20ng/ml VEGF respectively. Gene expression of Col1 was upregulated 6.4x±4.2x, 60.1x±21.6x and 15.8x±10.2x for 5ng/ml, 10ng/ml and 20ng/ml VEGF, all differences were significant with p