Effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells implantation vs. intramyocardial plasmid-VEGF165 gene transfer on infarct size and left ventricular function in sheep with acute myocardial infarction

DE LORENZI ANDREA; LOCATELLI PAOLA; CERDÁ MIGUEL; OLEA DANIELA; SEPÚLVEDA DIANA; HNATIUK ANNA; RAMIREZ RODRIGO; BERCOVICH ANDRÉS; LAGUENS RUBÉN; CROTTOGINI ALBERTO

Munich

Congreso; Congreso de la Sociedad Europea de Cardiología; 2012

Sociedad Europea de Cardiología

Purpose: implantation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium has been shown to induce beneficial effects in animal models of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). On the other hand, we have shown that the intramyocardial injection of a plasmid encoding VEGF165 (pVEGF) in an ovine model of AMI limits infarct size and enhances LV function. We thus aimed to compare, in the same model, the efficacy of MSCs versus pVEGF in decreasing infarct size and improving LV function. Methods: adult sheep underwent surgical acute occlusion of 2nd and 3rd diagonal branches of the left anterior descending artery. One week later, sheep were reoperated and randomized to receive 20 million MSCs (n=5), pVEGF165 3.8 mg (n=5) or placebo (PBS, n=5) in ten 0.2 ml intramyocardial injections distributed along the infarct border. At 3 and 30 days post-treatment infarct size (as %LV mass) was measured by nuclear magnetic resonance and LV function [end diastolic volume (EDV), end systolic volume (ESV), ejection fraction (%EF)] by echocardiography. Baseline, pre-IAM LV function was also assessed. Results: infarct size showed a significant 27% decrease in the pVEGF group (from 17.6±3.4% to 12.7±2.7%, X±SD, p