Amid growing indications that the traditional image of red blood cells (RBCs) falls short of reality, chemists are reporting evidence that RBCs are key participants in a communication system among cells in the bloodstream.

Blood vessels that have been tissue-engineered from bone marrow adult stem cells may in the future serve as a patient's own source of new blood vessels following a coronary bypass or other procedures that require vessel replacement, according to new research from the University at Buffalo Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine investigators have engineered artificial blood vessels from muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) and a biodegradable polymer that exhibit extensive remodeling and remain free of blockages when grafted into rats.

Scientists from the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1 of the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada) have proven that a high cholesterol diet causes changes in gene expression of chicken aortic smooth muscle cells at the early stages of an experimental atherosclerosis. This study associates cholesterol intake with the expression of genes codifying certain proteins, even before the disease is detected on blood vessel walls.

CT angiography (CTA) alone is an effective, noninvasive means to detect peripheral vascular disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at Charite Campus Benjamin Franklin in Berlin, Germany.

Biomedical engineers are constantly coming up with ways to repair the human body, replacing defective and worn out parts with plastic, titanium, and ceramic substitutes - but the body does not always accept such substitutes seamlessly. Engineers from Brown and Purdue universities have found that simply changing the surface texture of implants can dramatically change the way cells colonize a wide variety of materials.

Some day, heart attack survivors might have a patch of laboratory-grown muscle placed in their heart, to replace areas that died during their attack. Children born with defective heart valves might get new ones that can grow in place, rather than being replaced every few years. And people with clogged or weak blood vessels might get a new "natural" replacement, instead of a factory-made one.

To the delight of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, living cells gobbled up fluorine-laced nanoparticles without needing any coaxing. Then, because of the unusual meal, the cells were easily located with MRI scanning after being injected into mice.

An international study using ultrasound technology has found that the most potent cholesterol-lowering drug is also effective at halting early changes in the blood vessels that can lead to atherosclerosis.

Proteins released by the placenta may damage blood vessels in women with preeclampsia (PE), according to an abstract presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at the Society for Gynecologic Investigation Conference March 17 in Reno, Nevada.