Canine Aortic Endothelial Cells: CnAOEC (Cryovial)

CnAOEC provide a useful model to study cardiovascular diseases and test potential therapeutic agents, not only important from a veterinary perspective, but also having implications for human health. In a study aiming to adapt an immunomagnetic isolation protocol used in human patients to isolate circulating endothelial cells in dogs, CnAOEC cells were shown to be positive for von Willebrand factor, CD146 and stained with Ulex europaeus agglutinin 1 (Wills, 2009). To investigate the mechanism of N-terminal portion of pro C-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pCNP), a sepsis biomarker in humans and dogs, CnAOEC were treated with a variety of agents and it was found that lipopolysaccharide, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta, but not IL-6, IL-10, IL-21, CXCL-8, IFN-gamma, VEGF-A, stimulated NT-pCNP production (Osterbur, 2012, 2013). CnAOEC were also used to demonstrate vasoprotective activity of pomegranate and soy isoflavons in order to prevent endothelial disfunction in dogs which commonly leads to cardiovascular disease (Baumgartner-Parzer, 2012). Finally, CnAOEC were utilized as a control to compare the growth of normal canine endothelial cells and aggressive canine hemangiosarcoma cells in a study investigating signaling pathways underlying hemangiosarcoma oncogenesis (Murai, 2012), and as a VEGFR2-positive control in a study aimed at understanding the reasons for reduced numbers of circulating progenitor cells in cardiovascular disease (Boilson, 2010).