Erythropoietin (EPO) protects the myocardium from ischaemic injury and promotes beneficial remodelling. We assessed the therapeutic efficacy of intracardiac EPO injection and EPO-mediated stem cell homing in a rat myocardial infarction (MI) model. Following MI, EPO (3000 U/kg) or saline was delivered by intracardiac injection. Compared to myocardial infarction control group (MIC), EPO significantly improved left ventricular function (n = 11-14, P < 0.05) and decreased right ventricular wall stress (n = 8, P < 0.05) assessed by pressure-volume loops after 6 weeks. MI-EPO hearts exhibited smaller infarction size (20.1 ± 1.1% versus 27.8 ± 1.2%; n = 6-8, P < 0.001) and greater capillary density (338.5 ± 14.7 versus 259.8 ± 9.2 vessels per mm; n = 6-8, P < 0.001) than MIC hearts. Direct EPO injection reduced post-MI myocardial apoptosis by approximately 41% (0.27 ± 0.03% versus 0.42 ± 0.03%; n = 6, P = 0.005). The chemoattractant SDF-1 was up-regulated significantly assessed by quantitative realtime PCR and immunohistology. c-Kit+ and CD34+ stem cells were significantly more numerous in MI-EPO than in MIC at 24 hrs in peripheral blood (n = 7, P < 0.05) and 48 hrs in the infarcted hearts (n = 6, P < 0.001). Further, the mRNAs of Akt, eNOS and EPO receptor were significantly enhanced in MI-EPO hearts (n = 7, P < 0.05). Intracardiac EPO injection restores myocardial functions following MI, which may attribute to the improved early recruitment of c-Kit+ and CD34+ stem cells via the enhanced expression of chemoattractant SDF-1. © 2009 Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
CITATION STYLE
Klopsch, C., Furlani, D., Gäbel, R., Li, W., Pittermann, E., Ugurlucan, M., … Steinhoff, G. (2009). Intracardiac injection of erythropoietin induces stem cell recruitment and improves cardiac functions in a rat myocardial infarction model. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 13(4), 664–679. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1582-4934.2008.00546.x
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