title: Erythropoietin improves the survival of fat tissue after its transplantation in nude mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Autologous transplanted fat has a high resorption rate, providing a clinical challenge for the means to reduce it. Erythropoietin (EPO) has non-hematopoietic targets, and we hypothesized that EPO may improve long-term fat graft survival because it has both pro-angiogenic and anti-apoptotic properties. We aimed to determine the effect of EPO on the survival of human fat tissue after its transplantation in nude mice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Human fat tissue was injected subcutaneously into immunologically-compromised nude mice, and the grafts were then treated with either 20 IU or 100 IU EPO. At the end of the 15-week study period, the extent of angiogenesis, apoptosis, and histology were assessed in the fat grafts. The results were compared to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-treated and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-treated fat grafts. The weight and volume of the EPO-treated grafts were higher than those of the PBS-treated grafts, whose weights and volumes were not different from those of the VEGF-treated grafts. EPO treatment also increased the expression of angiogenic factors and microvascular density, and reduced inflammation and apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in the fat grafts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that stimulation of angiogenesis by a cluster of angiogenic factors and decreased fat cell apoptosis account for potential mechanisms that underlie the improved long-term survival of fat transplants following EPO treatment.
authors.affiliation: The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. www.saher@gmail.com
authors.forename: Saher
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamed
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Egozi
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kruchevsky
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Teot
authors.forename: Amos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gilhar
authors.forename: Yehuda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ullmann
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation*; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000187:drug effects; D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin / Q000378:metabolism; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D004921:Erythropoietin; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2