title: Fibroblast Growth Factor-9 Activates c-Kit Progenitor Cells and Enhances Angiogenesis in the Infarcted Diabetic Heart.
abstract: We hypothesized that fibroblast growth factor-9 (FGF-9) would enhance angiogenesis via activating c-kit positive stem cells in the infarcted nondiabetic and diabetic heart. In brief, animals were divided into three groups: Sham, MI, and MI+FGF-9. Two weeks following MI or sham surgery, our data suggest that treatment with FGF-9 significantly diminished vascular apoptosis compared to the MI group in both C57BL/6 and db/db mice (p < 0.05). Additionally, the number of c-kit(+ve)/SM α-actin(+ve) cells and c-kit(+ve)/CD31(+ve) cells were greatly enhanced in the MI+FGF-9 groups relative to the MI suggesting FGF-9 enhances c-Kit cell activation and their differentiation into vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells, respectively (p < 0.05). Histology shows that the total number of vessels were quantified for all groups and our data suggest that the FGF-9 treated groups had significantly more vessels than their MI counterparts (p < 0.05). Finally, echocardiographic data suggests a significant improvement in left ventricular output, as indicated by fractional shortening and ejection fraction in both nondiabetic and diabetic animals treated with FGF-9 (p < 0.05). Overall, our data suggests FGF-9 has the potential to attenuate vascular cell apoptosis, activate c-Kit progenitor cells, and enhance angiogenesis and neovascularization in C57BL/6 and db/db mice leading to improved cardiac function.
authors.affiliation: Biomolecular Science Center, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
authors.forename: Dinender
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singla
authors.affiliation: Biomolecular Science Center, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D058065:Diabetic Cardiomyopathies / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051525:Fibroblast Growth Factor 9 / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000378:metabolism*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: C496460:Fgf9 protein, mouse; D051525:Fibroblast Growth Factor 9; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit