Human umbilical cord blood cells improve cardiac function after myocardial infarction.
Human umbilical cord blood (UCB) contains an abundance of immature stem/progenitor cells and has been clinically used as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation. In addition, cord blood can be obtained non-invasively, in contrast to invasive bone marrow aspiration. We investigated the potential of human UCB CD34(+) cells to improve cardiac function following myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction was induced in Wistar rats by ligation of the left coronary artery. Either 2x10(5) human UCB CD34(+) cells or equivalent cell-free medium was injected into the injured myocardium of the rats following induction of myocardial infarction. CD34(+) cell transplantation significantly improved ventricular function as compared to the control group. Immunofluorescence staining for human CD34, CD45, and PECAM-1 revealed surviving cells in the myocardium. Our findings suggest that transplanted human cells survived and improved cardiac function following myocardial infarction. These results may show the usefulness of UCB CD34(+) cells for myocardial infarction.
Hirata
Yasutaka
Y
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. h-yasu@umin.ac.jp <h-yasu@umin.ac.jp>
Sata
Masataka
M
Motomura
Noboru
N
Takanashi
Minoko
M
Suematsu
Yoshihiro
Y
Ono
Minoru
M
Takamoto
Shinichi
S
D000818:Animals; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation
D018952:Antigens, CD34