Reestablishment of the Endothelial Lining by Endothelial Cell Therapy Stabilizes Experimental Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

Loss of the endothelium and its replacement by a thick thrombus are structural features of human abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). In AAAs, the relationship between aortic diameter expansion, the presence of thrombus, and the lack of endothelial cells (ECs) remains unexplored. We hypothesized that reendothelialization by cell therapy would modulate aortic wall destruction and ultimately stabilize AAAs. We evaluated the impact of local seeding of rat aortic ECs or peripheral blood-derived outgrowth ECs on AAA evolution.