Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells attenuates myocardial injury and dysfunction in a rat model of acute myocarditis.
Acute myocarditis is a non-ischemic inflammatory disease of the myocardium for which there is currently no specific treatment. We have previously shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) can ameliorate heart injury during acute ischemia and in dilated cardiomyopathy; however, the therapeutic potential in acute myocarditis is unclear. In this study, we investigated the ability of MSC to attenuate myocardial injury and dysfunction during the acute phase of experimental myocarditis. Ten-week-old male Lewis rats were injected with porcine myosin to induce myocarditis. Cultured MSC (3x10(6) cells/rat) were injected intravenously 7 days after myosin injection. At 3 weeks, myosin injection resulted in severe inflammation and significant deterioration of cardiac function. MSC transplantation attenuated increases in CD68-positive inflammatory cells and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression in myocardium, and improved cardiac function in this model. Furthermore, myocardial capillary density was higher in myocarditis tissue, and was further increased by MSC transplantation. In vitro, cultured adult rat cardiomyocytes were injured in response to MCP-1, whereas this effect was attenuated by MSC-derived conditioned medium, suggesting cardioprotective effects of MSC acting in a paracrine manner. MSC transplantation attenuated myocardial injury and dysfunction in a rat model of acute myocarditis, at least in part through paracrine effects of MSC.
Ohnishi
Shunsuke
S
Department of Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering, National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Fujishirodai 5-7-1, Osaka 565-8565, Japan.
Yanagawa
Bobby
B
Tanaka
Koichi
K
Miyahara
Yoshinori
Y
Obata
Hiroaki
H
Kataoka
Masaharu
M
Kodama
Makoto
M
Ishibashi-Ueda
Hatsue
H
Kangawa
Kenji
K
Kitamura
Soichiro
S
Nagaya
Noritoshi
N
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew
D003402:Creatine Kinase