Identification and characterization of a novel multipotent sub-population of Sca-1⁺ cardiac progenitor cells for myocardial regeneration.

Methods And Results: The cardiac stem/progenitor cells from adult mice were seeded at low density in serum-free medium. The colonies thus obtained were expanded separately and assessed for expression of stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1). Two colonies each with high Sca-1 (CSH1; 95.

Myocardium-targeted delivery of endothelial progenitor cells by ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction improves cardiac function via an angiogenic response.

Application of ultrasound-mediated destruction of microbubbles (US + Bubble) to skeletal muscle creates capillary ruptures leading to leakage of the cell components. We studied whether US + Bubble combined with bone-marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) infusion enables the targeted delivery of endothelial-lineage cells into the myocardium and improves cardiac function of the cardiomyopathy model due to the paucity of neocapillary formation. Pulsed US was applied to the anterior chest of BIOTO2 cardiomyopathy hamsters for 90 s after the intravenous injection of microbubble (Optison) followed by infusion of BM-MNCs.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized circulating c-Kit+/Flk-1+ progenitor cells regenerate endothelium and inhibit neointimal hyperplasia after vascular injury.

Background: Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment was shown to inhibit neointimal formation of balloon-injured vessels, whereas neither the identification of progenitor cells involved in G-CSF-mediated endothelial regeneration with a bone marrow (BM) transplant experiment nor the functional properties of regenerated endothelium have been studied.

Methods And Results: Recombinant human G-CSF (100 microg/kg per day) was injected daily for 14 days starting 3 days before balloon injury in the rat carotid artery. Neointimal formation of denuded vessels on day 14 was markedly attenuated by G-CSF (39% versus the control; P<0.

Analysis of circulating apoptosis mediators and proinflammatory cytokines in patients with idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: comparison between nonobstructive and dilated-phase hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

We examined the plasma levels of soluble Fas (sFas) or Fas ligand (sFas-L), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients with idiopathic nonobstructive (HNCM) and dilated-phase (DHCM) hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Patients with idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) may deteriorate to DHCM and the pathogenesis is unknown. The levels of these plasma cytokines were measured by ELISA and echocardiography was performed in 38 HNCM and 11 DHCM patients, and 10 normal subjects.

Interpretation of reverse redistribution of 99mTc-tetrofosmin in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Reverse redistribution (RR) of technetium-99m tetrofosmin (TF) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been considered a sign of salvaged myocardium. We examined the time evolution of the RR pattern during a 6-month period and the clinical implications of RR. TF myocardial SPET was performed in 22 patients 1 week, 1 month and 3-6 months after AMI.