ABSTRACT
After the introduction of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the adult circulation by Asahara et al. 1997, a new fi eld of research was opened and led to the exploration of the mechanisms and contribution of vascular stem and progenitor cells to vascular morphogenic processes in the adult. As EPCs constitute only one-fi ve percent of the total bone marrow (BM) cell population and less than 0.0001-0.01 percent of peripheral circulating mononuclear cells (Khan et al. 2005), current research seeks to identify means of expanding this population of cells which basically originates from the BM, peripheral and cord blood.
