Fibroblast sheets co-cultured with endothelial progenitor cells improve cardiac function of infarcted hearts

• Published in: Journal of artificial organs Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 141 - 147
• Main Authors: Kobayashi, Hiroshi, Shimizu, Tatsuya, Yamato, Masayuki, Tono, Kayoko, Masuda, Haruchika, Asahara, Takayuki, Kasanuki, Hiroshi, Okano, Teruo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Springer Japan 01-09-2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Cardiac Surgery; Coculture Techniques; Cytokines; Doxorubicin; Echocardiography; Endothelial Cells - transplantation; Fibroblasts - transplantation; Heart attacks; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Myocardial Contraction; Myocardial Infarction - diagnostic imaging; Myocardial Infarction - pathology; Myocardial Infarction - physiopathology; Myocardial Infarction - therapy; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Nephrology; Original Article; Rats; Rats, Nude; Rodents; Stem Cell Transplantation; Tissue Engineering - methods; Heart; Cell sheet; Tissue engineering; Endothelial progenitor cells
• ISSN: 1434-7229; 1619-0904
• DOI: 10.1007/s10047-008-0421-8

We have already confirmed that cell sheet transplantation can improve damaged heart function via continuous cytokine secretion. In this study, we hypothesized that cytokine-secreting cell sheets co-cultured with an endothelial cell source may be more effective for repairing ischemic myocardium. Confluent rat fibroblasts cultured on temperature-responsive culture dishes were harvested as contiguous cell sheets by temperature reduction. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-positive endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were seeded on fibroblast sheets to create co-cultured cell sheets, and sandwich-like constructs were engineered by stacking of the co-cultured cell sheets. These constructs were transplanted into rat myocardial infarction models. Cardiac function and histology were assessed in four groups: the sham operation (C) group, the isolated EPC injection (E) group, the transplantation of triple-layer fibroblast sheets (F) group, and the transplantation of triple-layer sandwich-like constructs (E + F) group. Echocardiography showed significant improvement of the fractional shortening in the E + F group in comparison with the C group (0.25 ± 0.05 vs. 0.16 ± 0.02). On histological examination, significantly less connective tissue formation was observed in the E, F, and E + F groups when compared to the C group (C, E, F, and E + F groups: 53 ± 2%, 41 ± 4%, 40 ± 4%, and 32 ± 7%, respectively). Additionally, increased blood vessel formation was detected in the E, F, and E + F groups compared with the C group (C, E, F, and E + F groups: 1.9% ± 0.6%, 6.7% ± 0.6%, 7.8% ± 0.9%, and 10.2% ± 2.4%, respectively). Furthermore, GFP-staining demonstrated that the newly formed blood vessels were composed of the co-cultured EPCs. Transplantation of cell sheets co-cultured with an endothelial cell source may be a new therapeutic strategy for myocardial tissue regeneration.