Introduction: Among the plethora of cells under investigation to restore a functional myocardium, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been granted considerable interest. However, whereas the beneficial effects of bone marrow MSCs (BM-MSCs) in the context of the diseased heart are widely reported, data are still scarce on MSCs from the umbilical cord matrix (UCM-MSCs). Herein we report on the effect of UCM-MSC transplantation to the infarcted murine heart, seconded by the dissection of the molecular mechanisms at play.
Methods: Human umbilical cord tissue-derived MSCs (UCX®), obtained by using a proprietary technology developed by ECBio, were delivered via intramyocardial injection to C57BL/6 females subjected to permanent ligation of the left descending coronary artery. Moreover, medium produced by cultured UCX® preconditioned under normoxia (CM) or hypoxia (CMH) was collected for subsequent in vitro assays.
Results: Evaluation of the effects upon intramyocardial transplantation shows that UCX® preserved cardiac function and attenuated cardiac remodeling subsequent to myocardial infarction (MI). UCX® further led to increased capillary density and decreased apoptosis in the injured tissue. In vitro, UCX®-conditioned medium displayed (a) proangiogenic activity by promoting the formation of capillary-like structures by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and (b) antiapoptotic activity in HL-1 cardiomyocytes subjected to hypoxia. Moreover, in adult murine cardiac Sca-1+ progenitor cells (CPCs), conditioned medium enhanced mitogenic activity while activating a gene program characteristic of cardiomyogenic differentiation.
Conclusions: UCX® preserve cardiac function after intramyocardial transplantation in a MI murine model. The cardioprotective effects of UCX® were attributed to paracrine mechanisms that appear to enhance angiogenesis, limit the extent of the apoptosis, augment proliferation, and activate a pool of resident CPCs. Overall, these results suggest that UCX® should be considered an alternative cell source when designing new therapeutic approaches to treat MI.