Patent ID: 8323972

Claim:
A method of isolating a mammalian internal mammary artery-derived cell comprising the steps of: a. Providing a mammalian internal mammary artery, b. providing an enzyme mixture wherein the enzyme mixture is comprised of digestion enzymes selected from the group consisting of a metalloprotease enzyme, a neutral protease enzyme, a mucolytic enzyme, and combinations thereof, c. incubating the entire mammalian internal mammary artery in the enzyme mixture for a time sufficient to remove the intimal layer and to remove external debris from the artery and provide a partially digested artery, d. transferring the partially digested artery into a fresh enzyme mixture and continue digestion for a time sufficient to provide a digested material, e. isolating the cells from the digested material, wherein the cells are positive for the expression of cell-surface marker HLA-1 and negative for expression of each one of the cell-surface markers CD 10, CD31, CD34, CD45, CD133, CD141 and KDR/Flk-1, and f. culturing the cells on collagen coated tissue culture vessels.