[Isolation, culture and validation of CD34 vascular wall-resident stem cells from mice].

Vascular wall-resident stem cells (VW-SCs) play a critical role in maintaining normal vascular function and regulating vascular repair. Understanding the basic functional characteristics of the VW-SCs will facilitate the study of their regulation and potential therapeutic applications. The aim of this study was to establish a stable method for the isolation, culture, and validation of the CD34 VW-SCs from mice, and to provide abundant and reliable cell sources for further study of the mechanisms involved in proliferation, migration and differentiation of the VW-SCs under various physiological and pathological conditions.

Assessment of mitochondrial dysfunction and implications in cardiovascular disorders.

Mitochondria play a pivotal role in cellular function, not only acting as the powerhouse of the cell, but also regulating ATP synthesis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, intracellular Ca cycling, and apoptosis. During the past decade, extensive progress has been made in the technology to assess mitochondrial functions and accumulating evidences have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is a key pathophysiological mechanism for many diseases including cardiovascular disorders, such as ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and hemorrhagic shock. The advances in methodology have been accelerating our understanding of mitochondrial molecular structure and function, biogenesis and ROS and energy production, which facilitates new drug target identification and therapeutic strategy development for mitochondrial dysfunction-related disorders.