Smooth muscle cell sheet transplantation preserve cardiac function and minimize cardiac remodeling in a rat myocardial infarction model

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background We examined whether a vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) sheet is effective in the treatment of a rat myocardial infarction (MI) model. Methods We examined the effect of SMC sheet on the cardiac function and cardiac remodeling in a rat MI model in comparison with their effect of dermal fibroblast (DFB) sheet in vivo. Furthermore, we estimated the apoptosis and secretion of angiogenic factor of SMC under hypoxic condition in comparison with DFB. Seven days after MI, monolayer cell sheets were transplanted on the infarcted area (SMC transplantation group, SMC-Tx; DFB transplantation group, DFB-Tx; no cell sheet transplantation group, Untreated; neither MI nor cell sheet transplantation group, Sham). We evaluated cardiac function by echocardiogram, degree of cardiac remodeling by histological examination, and secretion of angiogenic growth factor by enzyme immunoassay. Results Twenty-eight days after transplantation, SMC-Tx showed the following characteristics compared with the other groups: 1) significantly greater fractional area shortening (SMC-Tx, 32.3 ± 2.1 %; DFB-Tx, 23.3 ± 2.1 %; untreated, 25.1 ± 2.6 %), 2) suppressed left ventricular dilation, smaller scar expansion, and preserved wall thickness of the area at risk and the posterior wall, 3) decreased fibrosis, preserved myocardium in the scar area, and greater number of arterioles in border-zone, 4) tight attac

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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