Human umbilical cord blood–derived MSCs exosome attenuate myocardial injury by inhibiting ferroptosis in acute myocardial infarction mice

• Published in: Cell biology and toxicology Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 51 - 64
• Main Authors: Song, Yufang, Wang, Baocai, Zhu, Xiliang, Hu, Junlong, Sun, Junjie, Xuan, Jizhong, Ge, Zhenwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal models; Animals; Attenuation; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Blood; Cardiomyocytes; Cell Biology; Chromosome 3; Cord blood; Divalent metal transporter-1; Exosomes; Exosomes - metabolism; Exosomes - ultrastructure; Ferroptosis; Ferroptosis - genetics; Fetal Blood - metabolism; Heart attacks; Humans; Hypoxia; Injury prevention; Iron; Life Sciences; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - metabolism; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Myocardial infarction; Myocardial Infarction - pathology; Myocardium; Myocardium - metabolism; Myocardium - pathology; Myocytes, Cardiac - metabolism; Original Article; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Pigments; Polymerase chain reaction; Reperfusion Injury - pathology; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Umbilical cord; Up-Regulation; Western blotting; Ferroptosis; Acute myocardial infarction; HUCB-MSCs; Exosome; MiR-23a-3p
• ISSN: 0742-2091; 1573-6822
• DOI: 10.1007/s10565-020-09530-8

The exosome of MSCs derived from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB-MSC) has been reported to have cardioprotective effects on mouse models of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and cardiomyocyte hypoxia injury, but the exact mechanisms involved require further investigation. This paper aimed to study the role of HUCB-MSC-exosomes in inhibiting ferroptosis to attenuate myocardial injury. Compared with sham or normoxia groups, RT-PCR and western blotting showed that divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) expression was significantly increased, and Prussian blue staining, ferrous iron (Fe 2+ ), MDA, and GSH level detection demonstrated that ferroptosis occurred in the infraction myocardium and in cardiomyocyte following hypoxia-induced injury. Overexpression of DMT1 promoted H/R-induced myocardial cell ferroptosis, while knockdown of DMT1 significantly inhibited the ferroptosis. HUCB-MSCs-derived exosomes inhibited ferroptosis and reduced myocardial injury, which was abolished in exosome with miR-23a-3p knockout. Moreover, dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed that DMT1 was a target gene of miR-23a-3p. In conclusion, HUCB-MSCs-exosomes may suppress DMT1 expression by miR-23a-3p to inhibit ferroptosis and attenuate myocardial injury.