Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells combined with VEGF gene for the treatment of limb ischemia in rabbits

Objective To evaluate bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells combined with VEGF gene in the treatment of limb ischemia in rabbits.Methods The right hind limb ischemia model of New Zealand rabbit was established by superficial femoral artery excision and deep femoral artery ligation.Rabbits then were divided randomly into 4 groups: empty plasmid control group(EP group),bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells group(BMSC group),VEGF gene therapy group(VEGF group),combination bone mesenchymal stem cells and VEGF gene therapy group(BV group).There were 8 rabbits in each group.Angiogenesis was detected by arteriography on day 28 after treatment and expression of VEGF was detected by immunohistochemical staining on day 30 after treatment.Results There were no differences of collateral vessel count between the EP group,BMSC group and VEGF group.The collateral vessel count in BV group was higher than that of the other three groups.Immunohistochemistry of VEGF showed that the integrated optical density(IOD)in BMSC and VEGF groups increased significantly compared with the EP group; the IOD in BV group was the highest compared with the other three groups.Conclusions Combination bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and VEGF gene in the treatment of limb ischemia in rabbits can obtain stable and effective expression of VEGF along with significant improvement of limb ischemia. Key words: Mesenchymal stem cells; Vascular endothelial growth factors; Gene transfection; Animal experimentation