Concomitant overexpression of triple antioxidant enzymes selectively increases circulating endothelial progenitor cells in mice with limb ischaemia

Abstract

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a group of heterogeneous cells in bone marrow (BM) and blood. Ischaemia increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) production that regulates EPC number and function. The present study was conducted to determine if ischaemia-induced ROS differentially regulated individual EPC subpopulations using a mouse model concomitantly overexpressing superoxide dismutase (SOD)1, SOD3 and glutathione peroxidase. Limb ischaemia was induced by femoral artery ligation in male transgenic mice with their wild-type littermate as control. BM and blood cells were collected for EPCs analysis and mononuclear cell intracellular ROS production, apoptosis and proliferation at basel..