Transplantation of Cardiac Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes Promotes Repair in Ischemic Myocardium

• Published in: Journal of cardiovascular translational research Vol. 11; no. 5; pp. 420 - 428
• Main Authors: Ju, Chengwei, Shen, Yan, Ma, Gengshan, Liu, Yutao, Cai, Jingwen, Kim, Il-man, Weintraub, Neal L., Liu, Naifeng, Tang, Yaoliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2018
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedicine; Cardiology; Cell Proliferation; Cells, Cultured; Disease Models, Animal; Exosomes - metabolism; Exosomes - transplantation; Exosomes - ultrastructure; Human Genetics; Ki-67 Antigen - metabolism; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation - methods; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Myocardial Infarction - metabolism; Myocardial Infarction - pathology; Myocardial Infarction - physiopathology; Myocardial Infarction - surgery; Myocardium - metabolism; Myocardium - pathology; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Original Article; Recovery of Function; Regeneration; Ventricular Function, Left; Myocardial infarction; Angiogenesis; Exosomes; Cardiac mesenchymal stem cells
• ISSN: 1937-5387; 1937-5395
• DOI: 10.1007/s12265-018-9822-0

Our previous study demonstrated the beneficial effects of exosomes secreted by cardiac mesenchymal stem cells (C-MSC-Exo) in protecting acute ischemic myocardium from reperfusion injury. Here, we investigated the effect of exosomes from C-MSC on angiogenesis in ischemic myocardium. We intramyocardially injected C-MSC-Exo or PBS into the infarct border zone after induction of acute mouse myocardial infarction (MI). We observed that hearts treated with C-MSC-Exo exhibit improved cardiac function compared to control hearts treated with PBS at one month after MI. Capillary density and Ki67-postive cells were significantly higher following treatment with C-MSC-Exo as compared with PBS. Moreover, C-MSC-Exo treatment increased cardiomyocyte proliferation in infarcted hearts. In conclusion, intramyocardial delivery of C-MSC-Exo after myocardial infarction enhances cardiac angiogenesis, promotes cardiomyocyte proliferation, and preserves heart function. C-MSC-Exo constitute a novel form of cell-free therapy for cardiac repair.