Fig. 1

Acidic preconditioning increased endothelial colony-forming cell (EFCF) adhesion and pro-angiogenic factor release. a Nonpreconditioned (npECFC) or preconditioned ECFC (pECFC) (grey and black bars, respectively) were seeded onto fibronectin, collagen type I, or TNFα-activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and, after 30 min or 2 h, the number of adherent cells was counted (n = 5). b ECFC were perfused onto collagen or TNFα-activated HUVEC for 15 min at shear force 1 dyn/cm² and the number of adherent cells was counted (n = 4). c ECFC were seeded onto fibronectin for 30 min and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) phosphorylation was determined by Western blot. Each membrane was reprobed with anti-actin antibody to calculate the relative integrated optical density (IOD) (n = 4). d ECFC were stained with antibodies against ICAM, E-selectin, α5, β1, or αVβ3 and then analyzed by flow cytometry (n = 3). e Interleukin (IL)-8, transforming growth factor (TGF)β1, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and IL-4 or IL-10, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) cytokines were measured in the supernatants of npECFC or pECFC after 24 or 48 h, respectively (n = 5). *p < 0.05 vs npECFC. AU, arbitrary units; MFI, mean fluorescence intensity