title: Improvement of cardiac function after transplantation of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The infarct size determines the long-term prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). There is a growing interest in repairing scar area by transplanting bone marrow stem cells. However, effectiveness of intracoronary injection of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in patients with AMI still remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-nine patients with AMI after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were randomly divided into intracoronary injection of BMSCs (n = 34) and saline (control group, n = 35) groups. Serial single positron emission computer tomography (SPECT), cardiac echo and cardiac electromechanical mapping were done at the designed time intervals until six months after transplantation of BMSCs or injection of saline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion with functional defect decreased significantly in the BMSCs patients after three months [(13 +/- 5)%] compared with that pre-transplantation [(32 +/- 11)%] and the control group [(28 +/- 10)%] at three month follow-up (P < 0.05, respectively). Wall movement velocity over the infracted region increased significantly in the BMSCs group [(4.2 +/- 2.5) cm/s vs (2.2 +/- 1.3) cm/s, P < 0.05], but not in the control group [(2.2 +/- 1.5) cm/s vs (2.7 +/- 1.7) cm/s, P > 0.05]. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) three months after transplantation in BMSCs group increased significantly compared with that pre-implantation and with that of the control group at three months post-injection [(67 +/- 11)% vs (49 +/- 9)% and (53 +/- 8)%, P < 0.05 respectively]. SPECT scan results showed that perfusion defect was improved significantly in BMSCs group at three-month follow-up compared with that in the control group [(134 +/- 66) cm(2) vs (185 +/- 87) cm(2), P < 0.01]. At the same time, left ventricular end-diastolic volume [(136 +/- 31) ml vs (162 +/- 27) ml, P < 0.05] and end-systolic volume [(63 +/- 20) ml vs (88 +/- 19) ml, P < 0.05] decreased synchronously. The ratio of end-systolic pressure to end-systolic volume [Psyst/ESV, (2.84 +/- 1.30) mmHg/ml vs (1.72 +/- 1.23) mmHg/ml, P < 0.05] increased significantly. Cardiac electromechanical mapping demonstrated significant improvement at three months after implantation of BMSCs compared with that pre-injection in both cardiac mechanical capability as left line local shorting [LLS, (11.29 +/- 1.64)% vs (7.32 +/- 1.86)%, P < 0.05] and electrical property as left ventricular endocardial unipolar voltage [UV, (10.38 +/- 1.12) mV vs (7.61 +/- 1.09) mV, P < 0.01]; perfusion defect decreased from (36.2 +/- 6.2)% to (20.3 +/- 5.31)% (P < 0.01). Twenty-four-hour electrocardiographic monitoring demonstrated no arrhythmias occurred at three-months follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The transplantation of BMSCs might improve the cardiac function and it is safe and feasible with no deaths or malignant arrhythmias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Nanjing First Municipal Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210006, China. chmengx@126.com
authors.forename: Shao-liang
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wu-wang
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Yu-hao
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shou-jie
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Jun-jie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Lian-ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Robert Chun Hua
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000628:therapy*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous