In vivo study of the angiogenesis potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell aggregates in their niche like environment

Background: Sufficient blood vessel formation in bioengineered tissues is essential in order to keep the viability of the organs. Impaired development of blood vasculatures results in failure of the implanted tissue. The cellular source which is seeded in the scaffold is one of the crucial factors involved in tissue engineering methods. Materials and methods: Considering the notable competence of Bone Marrow derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell aggregates for tissue engineering purposes, in this study BM-aggregates and expanded BM-MSCs were applied without any inductive agent or co-cultured cells, in order to investigate their own angiogenesis potency in vivo. BM-aggregates and BM-MSC were seeded in Poly-L Lactic acid (PLLA) scaffold and implanted in the peritoneal cavity of mice. Result: Immunohistochemistry results indicated that there was a significant difference (p