Transplantation of skeletal myoblast in ischemic heart disease

Abstract

Skeletal myoblast (SkM) transplantation represents a promising therapeutic approach to treat ischemic heart disease. The present study was to compare immune responses, SkM survival profile, and transplantation efficacy following xenogeneic, allogeneic, and autologous SkM transplantation in a rat model of myocardial infarction. In this study, we showed that immunocytes infiltrated severely in the early stage after SkM transplantation, and quantified the survival of SkMs. We also showed that the grafted non-autologous SkMs survived and differentiated well even without any immunosuppression. Further, we demonstrated the close correlation between immunocyte number and SkM total number. Furthermore, SkM transplantation improved the heart performance by increasing the contraction function and limiting the ventricular dilation. In addition, cyclosporine inhibited infiltration of the immune cells, enhanced the survival of transplanted SkMs and improved heart performance. This study enables us a better understanding of the early cellular behavior of SkMs, and suggests feasibility of non-autologous SkM transplantation.