The effect of mesenchymal stem cells transplantation on sympathetic neural remodeling of the infarcted myocardium

Objective To investigate whether mesenchymal stem cell(MSCs) transplantation could increase cardiac nerve density and improve the post-infarcted cardiac function.Methods Twenty-seven big-ear Japanese rabbits were divided into three groups randomly:MSCs transplanted group,MI only group and control group.Myocardial infarction was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in the rabbit of MSCs group and MI only group.Eight weeks after transplantation,the cardiac function of each rabbits was measured by hemodynamics.The extent of sympathetic innervation in different groups were examined by tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry.Results BrdU labeled autologous MSCs could be identified in the MSCs group,while no labeled cells was found in the other two groups.The cardiac function in MSCs group was improved significantly than that of MI only group.TH-positive nerve density was higher in both the MSCs group and the MI only group than that in the control group(P0.01).There was no marked difference between the two treated groups.Conclusion Autologous MSCs injected into rabbit infarct can survive in both the infarct and the border and improve the heart function,but can not increase the magnitude of cardiac nerve sprouting in both atria and ventricles.