Isolation of Vascular Wall Mesenchymal Stem Cells from the Thoracic Aorta of Adult Göttingen Minipigs: A New Protocol for the Simultaneous Endothelial Cell Collection

Simple Summary It has been widely demonstrated that blood vessels are sources of multipotent progenitor cells, including mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cellular populations persist throughout adulthood and can be isolated from both microvascular and large vessels. Increasing evidence suggests that vascular stem cells, together with other cell populations residing in blood vessels, such as endothelial cells, are involved in physiological and pathological vascular remodeling. In the present paper, we described, for the first time, a new improved method to isolate a pure population of vascular wall cells showing a preserved mesenchymal tri-lineage differentiative potential from thoracic aorta of Gottingen Minipigs, preserving and also collecting endothelial cells. Considering the increasing interest in the use of Gottingen Minipigs as an animal model for cardiovascular diseases, the results obtained in the present research open the way to plan in vitro vascular remodeling experiments by using in co-culture system vascular mesenchymal stem cells and endothelial cells.Two main classes of perivascular multipotent populations have been described: the microvascular pericytes and the vascular wall mesenchymal stem cells (VW-MSCs). VW-MSCs are isolated from large vessels in many species and they participate in vascular remodeling together with other cellular components such as endothelial cells. Considering that the Gottingen Minipigs are widely used in Europe as a translational model in the field of cardiovascular diseases, the aim of the present research was to isolate VW-MSCs from the adult aorta of Gottingen Minipigs while preserving and also collecting endothelial cells. The results obtained in the present research demonstrated that this new protocol allows us to obtain a pure population of VW-MSCs and endothelial cells. VW-MSCs from Gottingen Minipigs responded fully to the MSC minima international criteria, being positive to CD105, CD90, and CD44 and negative to CD45 and CD34. Moreover, VW-MSCs presented a differentiative potential towards osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages. Overall, the present protocol, preserving the viability and phenotypic features of the two isolated populations, opens future possibilities of using minipig VW-MSCs and endothelial cells in in vitro vascular remodeling studies.