Bone marrow transplantation in vascular prostheses

We obtained natural cytokine synthesis by autologously transplanting bone marrow in a synthetic vascular prosthesis. Bone marrow contains young, primitive cells with a strong survival potential which can differentiate into many kinds of mesenchymal cells and can produce many kinds of cytokines. These cytokines are useful if we can employ them in the right way at the right time. As an example of the use of natural cytokines, bone marrow transplantation into a synthetic vascular prosthesis will be described. Transplanted marrow cells survived in the prosthesis and accelerated neointima formation on its luminal surface. Bone marrow contains numerous undifferentiated cells which can differentiate into various kinds of cells depending on their environment. we expected the marrow cells to differentiate into cells such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells. But we could not find any signs of differentiation of the transplanted marrow cells. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.