Figure 2

Isolation, characterization and homing of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells (BMDPC). BMDPC were isolated from the bone marrow cell suspension by positive selection for CD133 by microbeads associated with monoclonal anti-CD133-antibodies. To test their functional capacity, the cells were seeded in culture flasks for 3 weeks. They were able to form endothelial outgrowth cell colonies quite early (A,B) and proliferated to a high level of confluence (C) as seen via phase contrast microscopy. Staining for CD133 and CD31 showed that the cultured cells adopted an endothelial character (D,E). To investigate the homing process, BMDPC were stained with DiI and administered directly after LPS injection into the animals. After forty-eight hours the animals were sacrificed and their lung tissue analysed. Both in the alveolar tissue (F) and adhering to vascular wall (G) fluorescent cells could be detected. In the cryosection (H) nuclei are stained with DAPI and one fluorescent could be detected.