Table 3.

Summary of the cell sources for vascular tissue engineering, their advantages, and limitations.

Cell type	Source	Differentiation to vascular cells	Advantages	Limitations	Examples
Somatic cells	Somatic tissues	Fully differentiated at the time of isolation	• Standardized isolation methods • Reflect the phenotype of native vascular cells	• Invasive isolation methods • Limited replication capacity	(33)
Induced pluripotent stem cells	Skin- derived, EPCs-derived	Differentiate into vascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells (58)	Robust source of autologous cells	• Low reprogramming efficiency • Need to establish more robust differentiation protocols. • Genetic and epigenetic alterations	(19, 22, 32, 59, 60)
Mesenchymal stem cells	Bone marrow, Cord and peripheral Blood	Differentiate into vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells (61)	• Could be isolated from a wide range of tissues • Antithrombotic properties	• Difficult isolation and identification • Heterogeneity of MSC population • Lower regenerative potential in some pathologies such as diabetes	(8, 20, 31)
Adipose derived stem cells	Adipose tissue (stromal vascular fraction)	Differentiate to smooth muscle and endothelial cells	Similar to MSCs in terms of morphology, phenotype and differentiation potential	• Differentiation to fully mature endothelial phenotype is limited • Altered cytoskeletal integrity in ASCs engineered tissues (62)	(63)
Endothelial progenitor cells	Cord and peripheral Blood, bone marrow	Differentiate to mature endothelial cells, with potential of endothelial-mesenchymal transition	• Accessible cell source • Stable mature endothelial phenotype (late EPCs) • Robust proliferation	• Relatively prolonged and expensive isolation methods • Heterogeneity and uncertainty of the resulting phenotypes from different origins/isolation methods • Cells emergence could be lower in certain pathologies (e.g., Diabetes and cardiovascular disease)	(64–67)
Embryonic stem cells	Early-stage embryos (inner cell mass of a blastocyst)	Differentiate to smooth muscle and endothelial cells	Could be maintained for long durations in culture	• Ethical, political and religious controversies • Sourcing difficulties • Low efficiency to generate stable endothelial cell phenotype.	(68)