A mesoangioblast is a mesenchymal-like cell, associated with the walls of the large vessels. Mesoangioblasts exhibit many similarities to pericytes found in the small vessels. Mesoangioblasts are relatively undifferentiated cells with the potential to progress down the endothelial

Endothelium

The endothelium is the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels, forming an interface between circulating blood in the lumen and the rest of the vessel wall. These cells are called endothelial cells. Endothelial cells line the entire circulatory system, from the heart...

 or mesoderm

Mesoderm

In all bilaterian animals, the mesoderm is one of the three primary germ cell layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the ectoderm and endoderm , with the mesoderm as the middle layer between them.The mesoderm forms mesenchyme , mesothelium, non-epithelial blood corpuscles and...

al lineages. Mesoangioblasts express the endothelial marker Flk-1, but not haematopoietic markers such as Tal-1.

Recent work has suggested their application for stem cell therapies

Stem cell treatments

Stem cell treatments are a type of intervention strategy that introduces new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. Many medical researchers believe that stem cell treatments have the potential to change the face of human disease and alleviate suffering...

 for muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...

. Experiments in alpha-sarcoglycan

Sarcoglycan

The sarcoglycans are a family of transmembrane proteins involved in the protein complex responsible for connecting the muscle fibre cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix, preventing damage to the muscle fibre sarcolemma through shearing forces.The dystrophin glycoprotein complex is a...

 deficient dystropic mice have shown that mesoangioblast transplantation can restore muscle function. Cells are delivered intra-arterially, where the migrate to the muscles.

More recently, a paper was published in Nature

Nature (journal)

Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

where mesoangioblast transplantion was used to ameliorate the effects of muscular dystrophy in golden retriever

Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog. They were historically developed as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties. As such, they were bred to have a soft mouth to retrieve game undamaged and have an instinctive love...

s with a congenital muscular dystrophy. The dogs given allogeneic cells survived; control animals died within 1 year.