Human cardiac and bone marrow stromal cells exhibit distinctive properties related to their origin.
OBJECTIVE
Bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell (BMStC) transplantation into the infarcted heart improves left ventricular function and cardiac remodelling. However, it has been suggested that tissue-specific cells may be better for cardiac repair than cells from other sources. The objective of the present work has been the comparison of in vitro and in vivo properties of adult human cardiac stromal cells (CStC) to those of syngeneic BMStC.


RESULTS
Although CStC and BMStC exhibited a similar immunophenotype, their gene, microRNA, and protein expression profiles were remarkably different. Biologically, CStC, compared with BMStC, were less competent in acquiring the adipogenic and osteogenic phenotype but more efficiently expressed cardiovascular markers. When injected into the heart, in rat a model of chronic myocardial infarction, CStC persisted longer within the tissue, migrated into the scar, and differentiated into adult cardiomyocytes better than BMStC.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate that although CStC and BMStC share a common stromal phenotype, CStC present cardiovascular-associated features and may represent an important cell source for more efficient cardiac repair.
Rossini
Alessandra
A
Laboratorio di Biologia Vascolare e Medicina Rigenerativa, Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCCS, Milano, Italy.
Frati
Caterina
C
Lagrasta
Costanza
C
Graiani
Gallia
G
Scopece
Alessandro
A
Cavalli
Stefano
S
Musso
Ezio
E
Baccarin
Marco
M
Di Segni
Marina
M
Fagnoni
Francesco
F
Germani
Antonia
A
Quaini
Eugenio
E
Mayr
Manuel
M
Xu
Qingbo
Q
Barbuti
Andrea
A
DiFrancesco
Dario
D
Pompilio
Giulio
G
Quaini
Federico
F
Gaetano
Carlo
C
Capogrossi
Maurizio C
MC
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002459:Cell Fusion; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology*; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000166:cytology*
D015415:Biomarkers