“…In explant culture, several weeks are needed to establish primary cultures and subculturing is required to acquire a large number of cells [2,4]. Additionally, isolation and culture of SMCs from acute TAAD tissues are very difficult for several reasons: firstly, acute TAAD patients are usually in acute inflammatory state according to our previous clinical observation and systematic inflammatory factors are adverse for the growth of isolated SMCs; secondly, tunica media (elastic fibers and collagen fibers) of human aorta are very compactible, which is hard for SMCs migrating from the explants; thirdly, the age of donor patients may be older [3], and the SMCs are in quiescence for a long time.…”