Objective To investigate and compare the angiogenesis ability and transplantation safety of mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical artery, umbilical vein and Wharton’ s jelly. Methods We isolated and cultured human umbilical cord artery perivascular stem cells (UCA-PSCs), umbilical cord vein perivascular stem cells (UCV-PSCs) and Wharton’ s jelly mesenchymal stem cells ( WJ-MSCs ). Flow cytometry was used to analyze the expression of cell surface markers at passage 3. The multipotency of cells was analyzed by adipogenic, osteogenic and neural-like differentiation assays. Immunofluorescence was used to detect the perivascular stem cell markers. Angiogenesis ability was analyzed by tube formation assay. Stem cells were transplanted into nonobese diabetic / severe combined immunodeficiency ( NOD-SCID) mice to test the biological safety. Results UCA-PSCs, UCV-PSCs and WJ-MSCs expressed mesenchymal stem cell markers that showed multi-lineage differentiation potential. UCA-PSCs expressed perivascular stem cell markers and had stronger angiogenesis ability in vitro than UCV-PSCs and WJ-MSCs. At 3 months after cell transplantation, hematoxylin and eosin staining showed no obvious morphological damage or abnormality in the organs. Conclusions UCA-PSCs had stronger angiogenesis ability than UCV-PSCs and WJ-MSCs. The transplantation of three kinds of stem cells into NOD-SCID mice result ed in no tumor formation, and appeared to be safe and feasible.