Abstract

Rationale: The mechanism of functional restoration by stem cell therapy remains poorly under-stood. Novel manganese-enhanced MRI and bioluminescence reporter gene imaging (BLI) were applied to follow myocardial viability and cell engraftment, respectively. Human-placenta-derived amniotic mesenchymal stem cells (AMCs) demonstrate unique immunoregulatory and pre-cardiac properties. In this study, the restorative effects of three AMC-derived sub-populations were exam-ined in a murine myocardial injury model: 1) unselected AMCs (uAMCs), 2) ckit+AMCs (c+AMCs), and 3) AMC-derived iPSCs (MiPSCs). Objective: Determine the differential restorative effects of the AMC-derived sub-populations in the murine myocardial injury model using multi-modality imaging. Methods and Results: SCID mice underwent left anterior descending artery ligation and were divid-ed into 4 treatment arms: 1) normal saline control (n=14), 2) uAMCs (n=10), 3) c+AMCs (n=13), and 4) MiPSCs (n=11). Cardiac MRI assessed myocardial viability and left ventricular (LV) func-tion while BLI assessed stem cell engraftment over a four-week period. Immunohistological label-ing and RT-PCR of the explanted myocardium were performed. The uAMC and c+AMC treated mice demonstrated transient LV functional improvement. However, the MiPSCs exhibited a signifi-cantly greater increase in LV function compared to all the other groups during the entire four-week period. LV functional improvement correlated with increased myocardial viability and sustained stem cell engraftment. The MiPSCs treated animals lacked any evidence of de novo cardiac differ-entiation. Conclusions: The functional restoration seen in MiPSCs was characterized by increased myocardial viability and sustained engraftment without de novo cardiac differentiation, indicating salvage of the injured myocardium.

View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.116.304668

View details for Web of Science ID 000351834500001

View details for PubMedID 25654979