title: Stem cell therapy restores viscoelastic properties of myocardium in rat model of hypertension.
abstract: Extensive remodeling of the myocardium is seen in a variety of cardiovascular diseases, including systemic hypertension. Stem cell therapy has been proposed to improve the clinical outcomes of hypertension, and we hypothesized that changes in mechanical properties of the myocardium would accompany the progression of disease and the results of treatment conditions. Using spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as a model of hypertension, we treated 13-week-old hypertensive rats with a single injection of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSC) isolated from a normotensive control. We indented the isolated ventricles of control, untreated sham-injected SHR, and ADSC-treated SHR hearts with a custom cantilever-based system and fit the resulting data to a standard linear solid model. SHR animals had higher blood pressure (198.4±25.9mmHg) and lower ejection fraction (69.9±4.2%) than age-matched control animals (109.0±1.6mmHg, 88.2±1.3%), and increased viscoelastic properties accompanied these clinical changes (right ventricle effective stiffness, SHR: 21.97±5.10kPa, Control: 13.14±3.48kPa). ADSC-treated animals saw improvement in clinical parameters compared to the untreated SHR group, which was also accompanied by a significant restoration of viscoelastic properties of the myocardium (ACSD-treated SHR: 9.77±6.96kPa).
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, United States.
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rubiano
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, United States.
authors.forename: Yanfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, United States.
authors.forename: Dominic
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guzzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacodynamics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida.
authors.forename: Anandharajan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rathinasabapathy
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, United States.
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, United States.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pepine
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, United States; Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, United States; Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, United States. Electronic address: css@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: Chelsey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simmons
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004548:Elasticity; D006973:Hypertension / Q000628:therapy*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation
keywords: Cardiac material properties; Cell therapy; Spontaneously hypertensive rat; Tissue mechanics