AimTo investigate the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on the resuscitation rate, proliferation and migration abilities of endothelial outgrowth cells (EOC) which were cryopreserved.MethodsThe mononuclear cells were separated from umbilical cord blood by density gradient centrifugation, followed by induction into EOC and expansion in vitro.The endothelial characteristics of EOC were identified by immunohistochemisty and fluorescent staining.Then EOC were cryopreserved at 4℃ for 4 h, －20℃ for 1 h, －70℃ for 24 h using culture medium with or without 50 μg/L VEGF.Cryopreserved EOC were resuscitated after 24 h, and the resuscitation rate, proliferation and migration abilities were measured by Annexin V/PI, CCK-8 and transwell assay respectively.ResultsEOC possessed many endothelial cell characteristics.The resuscitation rate of the 50 μg/L VEGF group was upregulated compared to the control group (p<0.01), and so were the proliferation and migration abilities (p<0.01).The proliferation and migration abilities of the two cryopreserved groups were both attenuated compared to normal group (p<0.01), while the migration ability of 50 μg/L group was higher than the normal group after 48 h (p<0.01).Moreover, the proliferation ability of 50 μg/L group was the same as the normal group (p>0.05).On the contrary, the proliferation and migration ability of the control group were both weaker than the normal and 50 μg/L group during the observation period (p<0.01).ConclusionsVEGF can increase the resuscitation rate and enhance the proliferation and migration abilities of EOC post-cryopreservation.