Autologous bone marrow-derived mononuclear cell therapy prevents the damage of viable myocardium and improves rat heart function following acute anterior myocardial infarction

Background: We examined the effects of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMDMNCs) on preventing viable myocardium damage from myocardial infarction (MI) in a rat MI model. Methods and Results: Saline (group 1) or BMDMNCs (group 2) were implanted into the infarct area (IA) of 1-week-old anterior wall MI Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Twenty SD rats without MI served as the controls (group 3). The results demonstrated that in remote viable myocardium, the integrated area (μm²) of connexin43 spots was lower, whereas the number of apoptotic nuclei were higher in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 on day 90 following BMDMNC implantation (all p<0.001). Additionally, the number of vessels and survival myocardium in the IA was lower in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (all p<0.005). Furthermore, the mRNA expressions of nitric oxide synthase, interleukin-8/Gro-α, interleukin-10 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 were higher in group 2 than in groups 1 and 3 in peri-IA (all p<0.05). On days 42 and 90, the left ventricular (LV) function was lower in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (p<0.001). Conclusions: Autologous BMDMNC therapy improves LV function, and mitigates molecular and cellular perturbation following MI.