Study on treating of acute myocardial infarction by intravenously delivering mesenchymal stem cells in rats

Aim: To study the effects of intravenously delivering mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at early stage. Methods: A total of 26 adult male rats were allocated into 3 groups: groupⅠ(MI+MSCs, n=10), groupⅡ(MI+PBS, n=8), and groupⅢ(pseudo-surgery group, n=8), and the rats were subjected to AMI by left anterior descending artery occlusion. Isogenic MSCs were cultured, amplified and prelabeled in vitro. One day after AMI, the labeled cells were transfused into AMI rats through caudal vein. To evaluate the cardiac function, all rats were undergone echocardiography examination and hemodynamic measurement. Then the rats were executed and the hearts were obtained for histological and immunohistochemical analysis. Results: Compared with groupⅡ, the cardiac function of groupⅠhad significant improvement three weeks after AMI (P0.05). Similarly, the cardiac function of groupⅠhad significant improvement compared with that before AMI (P0.05). However, the function of groupⅡ significantly decreased (P0.001). The immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that transplanted cells migrated into peri-infarction region, and differentiated into cardiomyocytes. Conclusion: Intravenously delivered mesenchymal stem cells could migrate into damaged region,and differentiate into cardiomyocytes, thus improve the cardiac function.