We investigated the effect of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on myoardial function following cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a rat model of myocardial infarction. We further investigated the efficacy of three routes of MSCs administration including intravenous, intraventricular and intramyocardial injection. Regardless of administration routes, MSCs would improve myocardial function after CPR in myocardial infarction animals. Myocardial infarction was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in 54 rats (6 groups, 9 rats for each). One month later, animals were randomized to receive injection of 5×10
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MSCs labeled with PKH26 or PBS alone as a placebo into right femoral vein or left ventricular cavity or the infarction zone in the anterior ventricular free wall. Four weeks after injection, 6 minutes of untreated ventricular fibrillation (VF) followed by 6 minutes of CPR were performed prior to defibrillation. Hemodynamics, including cardiac index (CI), dp/dt40, −dp/dt and left ventricular diastolic pressure(LVDP) were measured before induction of VF (baseline) and hourly following resuscitation. There were siginificant improvements in CI, dp/dt40(Figure 1
), −dp/dt, LVDP after CPR in MSCs treated animals, regardless of the sites of injection. Survival time after CPR was siginificantly increased in MSCs trearted groups comparing with the corresponding PBS treated groups. Independent of administration routes, myocardial function and survival time after CPR were comparably improved in all groups treated with MSCs in constrast to the PBS groups.
Figure 1
Intra-myocardial delivery of mesenchymal stem cells ameliorates left ventricular and cardiomyocyte contractile dysfunction following myocardial infarction