Separation of vascular endothelial cells from peripheral blood through porous polymeric membranes

Cell separation is a key technology in the isolation of cells from tissue and the transplantation of blood cells or mesenchymal stem cells. Purification and isolation of endothelial cells from cord blood will be useful for the regeneration of veins in clinical applications, because human umbilical vein endothelial cells are reported to exist in the cord blood. In the current studies, we investigated the separation of normal human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) from blood cells by filtration through various porous polymeric membranes. We found a better permeation of blood cells than that of HUVEC through polyurethane foaming membranes (pore size = 8.9 and 12-μm). This appears to be due to the relatively bigger cell size of HUVEC. We further found a relatively good separation factor with Nylon net filter membranes in the recovery solution using 20wt% albumin and 10wt% dextran solution. This ability of the Nylon net filter membranes to separate HUVEC and blood cells was due to a sieving effect that results from an optimal pore size.