Transplantation of adipose tissue mesenchymal cells conjugated with VEGF-releasing microcarriers promotes repair in murine myocardial infarction.

Rationale: Engraftment and survival of transplanted stem or stromal cells in the microenvironment of host tissues may be improved by combining such cells with scaffolds to delay apoptosis and enhance regenerative properties.

Aims: We examined whether poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) pharmacologically active microcarriers (PAMs) releasing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) enhance survival, differentiation, and angiogenesis of adipose tissue-mesenchymal stromal cells (AT-MSCs). We analysed the efficacy of transplanted AT-MSCs conjugated with PAMs in a murine model of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Longitudinal rotating frame relaxation time measurements in infarcted mouse myocardium in vivo.

Longitudinal relaxation time in the rotating frame (T1ρ) was measured using continuous wave irradiation in normal and infarcted mouse myocardium in vivo. Significant increase in T1ρ was found after 7 days of infarction when compared with reference myocardium or in myocardium before infarction. Cine MRI and histology were performed to verify the severity of infarction.

Viral serpin therapeutics from concept to clinic.

Over the past 19 years, we have developed a novel myxoma virus-derived anti-inflammatory serine protease inhibitor, termed a serpin, as a new class of immunomodulatory therapeutic. This review will describe the initial identification of viral serpins with anti-inflammatory potential, beginning with preclinical analysis of viral pathogenesis and proceeding to cell and molecular target analyses, and successful clinical trial. The central aim of this review is to describe the development of two serpins, Serp-1 and Serp-2, as a new class of immune modulating drug, from inception to implementation.

Synergistic suppression of rat neointimal hyperplasia by rapamycin and imatinib mesylate: implications for the prevention of accelerated arteriosclerosis.

Background: Accelerated arteriosclerosis remains a major limitation to therapeutic interventions such as angioplasty, stent deployment, and solid organ transplantation. Rapamycin, a powerful new immunosuppressant set to replace calcineurin inhibitors in the transplant setting, and imatinib mesylate, a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, are both angioprotective. Here, we explored the pharmacological and therapeutic interactions of these two agents in a rat model of neointimal hyperplasia.

A mouse model of aortic angioplasty for genomic studies of neointimal hyperplasia.

We describe here a mouse model of diffuse aortic remodelling triggered by combined endothelial denudation/vascular distension injury using a novel balloon microcatheter. We validated this model in both outbred (NMRI) and inbred (BALB/c, C57BL/6) mouse strains and found evidence for differential strain susceptibility to neointimal hyperplasia, possibly attributable to genetic factors. Neointimal lesions were approximately 50% smaller in the inbred strains, a finding associated with profound cell loss in the aortic media at the early stages of the response to injury.