Fig. 1

Enhanced proliferative and clonogenic potential of endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) after hypoxic preconditioning. a Characterization of ECFC surface markers after hypoxic preconditioning for 24 h. FACS analysis was performed using various surface markers, including progenitor markers (CD34, c-Kit, and CXCR4), endothelial lineage markers (VEGFR2, CD31, CD144, and Tie-2), and hematopoietic markers (CD11b, CD14, and CD45). b Schematic of single-cell assays using ECFCs. c Representative photomicrograph of the cell clusters derived from a single ECFC. d The number of cells per nor-ECFC or hypo-ECFC colony that underwent at least one cell division after 10 days of culture (*P < 0.05 vs. nor-ECFCs). e Image of hematoxylin-stained plate with a representative ECFC colony, and f a graph of the number of ECFC colonies per 96-well plate. The example shown is representative of four independent experiments. **P < 0.01 vs. nor-ECFCs