Abstract:Objective To investigate the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the in vitro differentiation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to vascular endothelial cells (VECs). Methods PBMCs from healthy volunteers were induced by VEGF and bFGF, and exposed to different concentrations of LPS. The inverted phase contrast microscope was used to observe the morphological changes of the cells. The immunofluorescence staining of CD31 and vWF was examined with flow cytometer. Results The morphological characteristics of the cells were observed at different passages under inverted phase contrast microscope. Compared with the control group, the number of positive cells in 0.01 μg/ml LPS-intervented group significantly increased (P < 0.05), while that in the 0.10 μg/ml LPS-intervented group had no significant difference (P > 0.05). The number of positive cells in 1.00-10.00 μg/ml LPS-intervented groups remarkably reduced compared to that in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions LPS at a concentration of 0.01 μg/ml can enhance differentiation of PBMCs. However, with the concentration of LPS increasing, the differentiation of PBMCs is inhibited, which may be related to activation of different number and subunits of NF-κB by different concentrations of LPS.