title: Synergistically therapeutic effects of VEGF165 and angiopoietin-1 on ischemic rat myocardium.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine whether the combination of 2 angiogenic growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor 165(VEGF165) and angiopoietin-1 (Ang1), could increase angiogenesis and cardiomyocyte(CM) proliferation in an infarcted myocardium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Myocardial ischemia was induced in rats by ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Replication-deficient adenoviruses encoding VEGF165 (Ad-VEGF165), Ang1 (Ad-Ang1) or enhanced green fluorescence protein (Ad-EGFP) was injected into the ischemic myocardium immediately. Bromodexyuridine (BrdU) was administered intraperitoneally 1 week after ligation. One week later, the hearts were harvested and sectioned for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and immunohistochemistry to evaluate densities of capillary, arteriole and double labelled BrdU(+) CM. M-mode echocardiography was used to evaluate the cardiac function.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ang1 significantly increased collateral vessel formation. Both VEGF165 and Ang1 significantly increased densities of capillary and arteriole, as well as the number of double labelled BrdU(+) CM, and improved cardiac function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the combination of VEGF165 and Ang1 can increase both myocardial angiogenesis and CM proliferation following myocardial ischemia in rats, leading to improved cardiac function.
authors: The First Affiliate Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, P. R. China.
authors: Xiang
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Yijiang
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Fumin
authors: F
authors: Zhang
authors: Lizhen
authors: L
authors: Chen
authors: Tuanzhu
authors: T
authors: Ha
authors: Xiang
authors: X
authors: Gao
authors: Chuanfu
authors: C
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae; D042683:Angiopoietin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D009206:Myocardium; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D042683:Angiopoietin-1; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A