Objective: We hypothesized that anoxic preconditioning (AP) could enhance the cardioprotective effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
Methods: Myocardial infarction (MI) was set up in Sprague-Dawley rats and left ventricles were randomly injected with the following: DMEM, MSCs and AP-MSCs. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography 4 weeks after transplantation, hematoxylin-eosin staining and Masson trichrome were performed subsequently.
Results: Increased fractional shortening, ejection fraction and decreased infarct size were observed most obviously in AP-MSCs group, accompanied by increased arteriole density and cell survival.
Conclusions: AP enhanced the capacity of MSCs to repair infarcted myocardium, attributable to increased cell survival and angiogenesis.