Echocardiographic evaluation of effect of autologous bone marrow stem cells mobilization with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor on left ventricular remodeling and function in post-infarction rats

Objective To evaluate the effect of autologous bone marrow stem cells mobilization with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor(G-CSF) on left ventricular remodeling and function after myocardial infarction in rats with echocardiography. Methods Forty male SD rats were randomized into G-CSF-treated group(n=16), control group(n=16) and sham-operated group(n=8). G-CSF (150 μg·kg -1·d -1) or saline were injected subcutaneously for 5 days since 6 h after the coronary artery ligation or sham-operation. Echocardiography was performed before, 1 day, 2 weeks and 6 weeks after myocardial infarction to evaluate the change in left ventricular shape and function. Rats were then sacrificed and hearts were sectioned for histological study to calculate the scar index. Results In the G-CSF-treated group, left ventricular dimension (LVDd and LVDs) was much smaller [LVDd( 0.72± 0.03)cm vs ( 0.83± 0.02)cm,P= 0.006;LVDs( 0.34± 0.03)cm vs ( 0.55± 0.03)cm,P 0.001], left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) and fractional shortening(FS) were improved significantly [LVEF ( 87.6± 2.9)% vs ( 62.5± 2.5)%;FS ( 52.7± 2.4)% vs ( 30.6± 2.0)%,P 0.001];while the value of Tei index was lower ( 0.23± 0.06 vs 0.44± 0.05,P= 0.009),when compared with those of control group. Rats in the G-CSF-treated group had smaller scar index [( 37.3± 11.0)% vs ( 51.9± 11.5)%,P 0.05] than the control group. Conclusions Mobilization of autologous bone marrow stem cells with G-CSF improves ventricular remodeling and heart function after myocardial infarction in rats. Echocardiography is an essential tool to evaluate the effect.