Human umbilical vein and artery endothelial cells (HUVEC; HUAEC), placental endothelial cells (fpAEC), and endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFC) from cord blood are a widely used model for researching placental vascular development, fetal and placental endothelial function, and the effect of adverse conditions in pregnancy thereon. However, placental vascular development and angiogenesis start in the first weeks of gestation, and adverse conditions in pregnancy may also affect endothelial function before term, suggesting that endothelial cells from early pregnancy may respond differently. Thus, we established a novel, gentle flow-through method to isolate pure human umbilical endothelial cells from first trimester (FTUEC). FTUEC were characterized and their phenotype was compared to the umbilical endothelium in situ as well as to other fetal endothelial cell models from term of gestation, i.e. HUVEC, fpAEC, ECFC. FTUEC possess a CD34-positive, juvenile endothelial phenotype, and can be expanded and passaged. We regard FTUEC as a valuable tool to study developmental processes as well as the effect of adverse insults in pregnancy in vitro.

来自脐带血的人脐静脉和动脉内皮细胞 (HUVEC; HUAEC)、胎盘内皮细胞 (fpAEC) 和内皮集落形成细胞 (ECFC) 是一种广泛用于研究胎盘血管发育、胎儿和胎盘内皮功能以及怀孕期间不利条件对其的影响。然而，胎盘血管发育和血管生成在妊娠的第一周就开始了，妊娠期的不利条件也可能影响足月前的内皮功能，这表明早孕的内皮细胞可能会有不同的反应。因此，我们建立了一种新颖、温和的流通方法，从妊娠早期 (FTUEC) 中分离出纯人脐带内皮细胞。对 FTUEC 进行了表征，并将它们的表型与原位脐带内皮细胞以及妊娠期的其他胎儿内皮细胞模型（即 HUVEC、fpAEC、ECFC）进行了比较。FTUEC 具有 CD34 阳性的幼年内皮表型，可以扩展和传代。我们将 FTUEC 视为研究发育过程以及体外妊娠不良损伤影响的宝贵工具。