Improved diastolic function after myoblast transplantation in a model of ischemia-infarction

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Study protocol.

Figure 2.  Primary, desmin-positive, porcine skeletal myoblasts in culture. Visualized using anti-desmin antibody (provided by Professor Ismo Virtanen) without counterstain.

Figure 3.  The upper images (A and B) demonstrate immunostaining for the skeletal muscle-specific nebulin, in samples of the lateral part of the left ventricle, where myoblasts were transplanted. The lower panels (C and D) show specificity controls for the nebulin antibody. The anti-nebulin antibody does not react with myocardium (C), but specifically recognizes skeletal muscle (D).

Table I.  LCx=left circumflex coronary artery, LVM=left ventricular mass

	Pretreatment Studies		Posttreatment Studies
	% of proximal LCx Stenosis	% of scar in LVM	% of proximal LCx Stenosis	% of scar in LVM
Control animals
#1	100	8.50	100	14.40
#2	85	0.00	85	0.00
#3	90	0.00	90	0.00
#4	100	14.00	100	15.10
#5	90	5.00	90	6.20
#6	100	11.60	100	10.10
Myoblast transplanted animals
#1	100	6,25	100	5.44
#2	85	0,27	90	0.00
#3	100	0,73	100	0.89
#4	100	24,17	100	16.89
#5	100	4,98	100	8.85
#6	100	2,41	100	1.80
#7	90	0,89	90	1.45
#8	100	1,58	100	3.65
#9	100	3,50	100	4.36

The stenosis at the left circumflex artery at the pretreatment and posttreatment angiograms are presented in the left columns. The amount of scar tissue in the late enhancement magnetic resonance images in respective animals is presented in the right columns.

Table II.  As left ventricular mass remains unchanged over the cardiac cycle, the variation in the mass at each cardiac-imaging frame represents the (in)accuracy of the left ventricular volume measurement in MRI. This table shows the mean, sem and ED left ventricular mass of each cardiac MRI.

	MASS pretreatment, g (ED)	MASS pretreatment, g (AVG)	Mass, g (SEM)	MASS posttreatment, g (ED)	MASS posttreatment, g (AVG)	Mass, g (SEM)
#1	75.65	81.9	3.51	121.44	118.43	3.29
#2	98.25	102.09	0.95	115.08	119.51	3.03
#3	83.52	83.84	1.94	137.07	164.84	5.21
#4	83.19	91.29	1.34	64.67	69.46	1.70
#5	98.92	114.29	2.83	109.85	116.82	2.47
#6	96.76	103.81	2.98	123.37	127.86	2.65
#1	102.4	116.05	2.77	152.65	171.14	3.02
#2	70.62	75.22	1.30	94.55	93.04	0.72
#3	71.64	72.71	1.52	97.52	100.72	1.42
#4	99.76	105.55	1.92	174.69	182.58	4.64
#5	99.42	101.77	1.44	140.18	151.56	1.37
#6	86.78	86.27	2.47	169.67	169.41	1.78
#7	100.88	108.25	2.65	172.26	183.56	3.51
#8	107.1	119	2.33	114.88	122.33	2.14
#9	90.05	93.69	0.94	120.05	136.97	2.01

ED=end-diastolic. AVG=average. SEM=standard error of the mean. Control animals are presented in bold.

Figure 4.  Graph of left ventricular volume over time. End systole (es) is the phase of lowest left ventricular volume. The slow filling phase follows until the time to the peak filling rate (tpf) has been reached. The slope of the rapid filling determines the peak filling rate (pfr). The peak ejection rate (per) is the fastest slope of the systolic phase.

Figure 5.  Peak filling rate (panels A and B) increased significantly in myoblast-transplanted animals, but not in control animals. Duration of diastole (panels C and D) is the phase between end systole and end diastole in the cardiac cycle. Diastolic duration improved significantly in myoblast-transplanted animals. A similar improvement was not seen in control animals. Duration of systole (panels E and F) or heart rate (panels G and H) did not change between the study points in either group.

Figure 6.  Von Willebrand factor (vWF) staining intensities at core infarct (Core) and infarct border (Border) areas as percentages of vWF staining intensity of the unaffected remote area in control and myoblast-transplanted groups.