Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY
Volume 167, Issue 6, Pages 2524-2532Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2012.06.052
Keywords
Mesenchymal stem cells; Angiogenesis; Fibrosis; Hepatocyte growth factor; Vascular endothelial growth factor
Categories
Funding
- Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation [11140903800, 12JC1410702]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: Cell transplantation and gene therapy have been demonstrated to have beneficial effects after a myocardial infarction (MI). Here, we used a large animal model of MI to investigate the beneficial effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transfected with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) genes. Methods: A porcine MI model was created by balloon occlusion of the distal left anterior descending artery for 90 min followed by reperfusion. At 1 week after MI, the pigs were infused via the coronary vein with saline (n=8), MSCs+AdNull(n=8), MSC+VEGF(n=10), or MSC+HGF(n=10). Cardiac function and myocardial perfusion were evaluated by using echocardiography and gated cardiac perfusion imaging before and 4 weeks after transplantation. Morphometric and histological analyses were performed. Results: All cell-implanted groups had better cardiac function than the saline control group. There were further functional improvements in the MSC+HGF group, accompanied by smaller infarct sizes, increased cell survival, and less collagen deposition. Blood vessel densities in the damaged area and cardiac perfusion were significantly greater in the MSC+AdNull group than in the saline control group, and further increased in the MSC+VEGF/HGF groups. Tissue fibrosis was significantly less extensive in the MSC and MSC+VEGF groups than in the saline control group and was most reduced in the MSC+HGF group. Conclusion: MSCs (alone or transfected with VEGF/HGF) delivered into the infarcted porcine heart via the coronary vein improved cardiac function and perfusion, probably by increasing angiogenesis and reducing fibrosis. MSC+HGF was superior to MSC+VEGF, possibly owing to its enhanced antifibrotic effect. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available