Figure 2

Characteristics of isolated EPCs from healthy controls and diabetes. a1 and a2: Phase contrast microscopic photos of representative cultured EPCs (passage 2) isolated from MNCs of normal healthy controls (a1) and MNCs of diabetic patients (a2). a3 and a4: Fluorescent microscopic photos of representative cultured EPCs isolated from MNCs of normal healthy controls (a3) and MNCs of diabetic patients (a4). Red color (indicated by red arrows) represents fluorescent staining of DiI-Ac-LDL and green color (indicated by green arrows) represents fluorescent staining of FITC-conjugated UEA-I. [Fig. a1 and a2, Magnification × 200; Fig. a3 and a4, Magnification × 400], b: Representative histogram based on flow cytometric analysis immunolabelling with a control antibody (green line) and specific antibodies (blue line) to EPC-related markers (CD146, CD34, VEGFR2 and CD146), c: EPCs from both healthy subjects and diabetic patients formed capillary-like structure on Matrigel [Magnification × 40].