No recombinant EGF and bFGF is required on HUVECs culture supplemented with Human Platelet Lysate

The potential of Human Platelet Lysate (hPL) as animal serum replacement in various cell type has been reported. In HUVECs culture system, exogenous growth factors are routinely added to the media. It is currently unknown whether the presence of hPL in the medium could eliminate the need for exogenous growth factors in HUVECs culture system. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of hPL in HUVECs culture without additional EGF and bFGF, two commonly uses growth factors in HUVECs culture medium. HUVECs proliferation and protein profile was tested with MTT assay and SDS PAGE, respectively. The expression of CD34, CD106 proteins were analyzed by FACS. HUVECs cell proliferation was significantly decreased in the 2% hPL group without additional EGF and bFGF (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference was found in the control group with 5% hPL without additional EGF and bFGF. Protein profile, the expression of CD34 and CD106 were comparable in all group tested. In the absence of routinely used growth factors in the HUVECs media, hPL could still support the growth of HUVECs. In addition to hPL role as serum replacement in the cell culture system, hPL can be used as an alternate of exogenous growth factors in HUVECs culture.