StemBell Therapy Does Not Significantly Affect Atherosclerotic Plaque Characteristics in a Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mellitus Mouse 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)

Aims Diabetes mellitus (DM) increases cardiovascular risk by inducing atherosclerotic plaque instability. StemBell therapy (i.e., adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) coupled to ultrasound-activated microbubbles) previously improved plaque stability in non-DM ApoE -/- mice. Here, we investigated the effect of StemBell therapy on atherosclerotic plaque characteristics in a streptozotocin-induced DM mouse model. Methods DM was induced in male C57BL/6 ApoE -/- mice ( n = 18) via intraperitoneal streptozotocin (STZ) injection (0.05 mg/g bodyweight) for 5 consecutive days. Eight weeks after the first STZ injection, the mice received either 5 × 10 5 StemBells or vehicle intravenously. Due to unexpected mortality, the experiment was halted and restarted in week 9 with a final reduced dose of 1.25 × 10 5 StemBells to avoid complications. The effect of StemBell therapy on plaque characteristics was determined 4 weeks post-treatment in five vehicle-treated and five StemBell-treated mice via (immuno)histochemical analyses. Furthermore, plasma monocyte subsets within 3 days pre- and 3 days post-treatment, and 3 weeks post-treatment, were studied via flow cytometry. Results StemBell therapy did not significantly affect atherosclerotic plaque size or intra-plaque inflammation. StemBell-treated mice had less intra-plaque Ly6G+ neutrophils (0.4 ± 0.5%) and intra-plaque Mac3+ pan-macrophage

Evidence level

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

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