Administration of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor accompanied with a balanced diet improves cardiac function alterations induced by high fat diet in mice.

Background/objectives: High fat diet (HFD) is a major contributor to the development of obesity and cardiovascular diseases due to the induction of cardiac structural and hemodynamic abnormalities. We used a model of diabetic cardiomyopathy in C57Bl/6 mice fed with a HFD to investigate the effects of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), a cytokine known for its beneficial effects in the heart, on cardiac anatomical and functional abnormalities associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Groups of C57Bl/6 mice were fed with standard diet (n = 8) or HFD (n = 16).

Transplantation of adipose tissue mesenchymal stem cells in experimental chronic chagasic cardiopathy.

Background: Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is a major cause of heart failure in Latin America. Tissue therapy has been investigated as a possible therapeutic option for patients with cardiovascular disease.

Objective: This study evaluated the effects of therapy with mesenchymal stem cells in an experimental model of chronic Chagasic cardiomyopathy.