POLY-(L-LACTIC ACID) SHEETS SEEDED WITH DI- APHRAGMATIC MYOBLASTS OVEREXPRESSING CON- NEXIN 43 AS A POTENTIAL STRATEGY FOR MYOCAR- DIAL REGENERATION.

CARLOS SEBASTIÁN GIMENEZ; FERNANDA DANIELA OLEA; PAOLA LOCATELLI; MARIA DEL ROSARIO BAUZA; ALEJANDRO ORLOWSKI; A. AIELLO; ANDREA DE LORENZI; MG CASTILLO VELASQUEZ; RICARDO A. DEWEY; FLORENCIA MONTINI BALLARIN; GUSTAVO ABRAHAM; LUIS CUNIBERTI; ALBERTO CROTTOGINI

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; LXII Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC); 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC)

Introduction. The diaphragm contracts and relaxes 20 times per minute over a lifespan. Besides, it is a source of muscle stem cells (myoblasts) capable of dividing, differentiating and self-regenerating preserving their phenotype. This makes diaphragmatic myoblasts (DM) a potential candidate for cell-based cardiac regeneration. Methods. To test this hypothesis, we seeded DM modi ed to overex- press connexin 43 (cx43) on poly-(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) sheets and sutured them on the infarcted zone of sheep undergoing coronary ligation (PLLA-DMcx43 group, n=6). DM were transduced with cx43 to enhance inter-cell connection. Additional sheep received PLLA sheets with non-modi ed DM (PLLA-DM group, n=6), PLLA without DM (PLLA group, n=6) or no treatment (Placebo, n=6). LV ejection fraction (Fey) (echocardiography) and infarct size (cardiac magnet- ic resonance) were measured at 2 and 45 days post-AMI. Results. Infarct size decreased by ~25% in PLLA-MDcx43 [8.7±0.6 ml (day 2) to 6.5±0.72 ml (day 45), P