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Development of vascular and hematopoietic systems during organogenesis occurs at the same time. During vasculogenesis, a small part of cells does not undergo complete differentiation but stays on this level, "anchored" in tissue structures described as stem cell niches. The presence of blood vessels within tissue stem cell niches is typical and led to identification of niches and ensures that they are functioning. The three-layer biostructure of vessel walls for artery and vein, tunica: intima, media and adventitia, for a long time was defined as a mechanical barrier between vessel light and the local tissue environment. Recent findings from vascular biology studies indicate that vessel walls are dynamic biostructures, which are equipped with stem and progenitor cells, described as vascular wall-resident stem cells/progenitor cells (VW-SC/PC). Distinct zones for vessel wall harbor heterogeneous subpopulations of VW-SC/PC, which are described as "subendothelial or vasculogenic zones". Recent evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies show that prenatal activity of stem and progenitor cells is not only limited to organogenesis but also exists in postnatal life, where it is responsible for vessel wall homeostasis, remodeling and regeneration. It is believed that VW-SC/PC could be engaged in progression of vascular disorders and development of neointima. We would like to summarize current knowledge about mesenchymal and progenitor stem cell phenotype with special attention to distribution and biological properties of VW-SC/PC in biostructures of intima, media and adventitia niches. It is postulated that in the near future, niches for VW-SC/PC could be a good source of stem and progenitor cells, especially in the context of vessel tissue bioengineering as a new alternative to traditional revascularization therapies.

Unlabelled: In order to determine the processes arising during the healing in vascular grafts the following experiment was desinged in 16 dogs., Material and Methods: The animals underwent implantation of unilateral bypass aorto-femoral (straight prosthesis from politetrafluoroethylrne--PTFE). After the 6 months all the animals sacrificed and vascular grafts were dissected and exam in electron microscopy., Results: There were significant differences in the histological findings in structure of neoitima between the proximal and distal anastomoses vascular prostheses. There were evidence of presence of fibroblasts but not macrophages in proximal anastomoses The histological structure of the proximal anastomoses indicates that inflammatory processes was ended during the prosthesis healing. There were presence of macrophages and myofibroblasts, some in the active secretion of collagen in distal anastomoses., Conclusions: Theses images of vascular anastomoses of artery with politerafluoroeth-ylene prosthesis corresponds to the chronic inflammatory reaction in distal anastomoses.