An experimental study on the survival and differentiation of transplanted bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in rats with cardiomyopathy

AIM: To study bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplanted to global myocardium in rats with doxorubicin induced cardiomyopathy and to observe their survival and differentiation in damaged host myocardium. METHODS: Cardiomyopathy was induced by intraperitoneal injection of doxorubicin (total dose 15 mg/kg for six times) in thirty female Wistar rats. MSCs were intravenously injected into the left ventricular myocardium. Eight weeks later, the hearts were excised for histological analysis to observe morphological changes in the injured myocardium and for immunohistochemical analysis to investigate the expressions of sarcomeric myosin heavy chain (MHC) and connexin 43(CX43) of MSCs. RESULTS: HE staining showed that the implanted MSCs labeled with DAPI survived and angiogenesis was identified at the implantation site. Eight weeks after the transplantation, immunohistochemical analysis showed the expression of MHC and CX43 in the implanted MSCs. CONCLUSION: Implanted MSCs could survive in damaged myocardium and differentiate into cardiomyocytes.