Mechanical loading of stem cells for improvement of transplantation outcome in a model of acute myocardial infarction: the role of loading history

Stem cell therapy for tissue repair is a rapidly evolving field and the factors that dictate the physiological responsiveness of stem cells remain under intense investigation. In this study we hypothesized that the mechanical loading history of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) would significantly impact MDSC survival, host tissue angiogenesis, and myocardial function after MDSC transplantation into acutely infarcted myocardium. Mice with acute myocardial infarction by permanent left coronary artery ligation were injected with either nonstimulated (NS) or mechanically stimulated (MS) MDSCs. Mechanical stimulation consisted of stretching the cells with equibiaxial stretch with a magnitude of 10% and frequency of 0.5 Hz. MS cell-transplanted hearts showed improved cardiac contractility, increased numbers of host CD31 + cells, and decreased fibrosis, in the peri-infarct region, compared to the hearts treated with NS MDSCs. MS MDSCs displayed higher vascular endothelial growth factor expression than NS cells in vitro. These findings highlight an important role for cyclic mechanical loading preconditioning of donor MDSCs in optimizing MDSC transplantation for myocardial repair

Bone regeneration mediated by BMP4-expressing muscle-derived stem cells is affected by delivery system,”Tissue Engineering

This study investigated the delivery of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)4-secreting muscle-derived stem cells (MDSC-B4) capable of inducing bone formation in mice using collagen gel (CG), fibrin sealant (FS), and gelatin sponge carriers. After implanting these various cell-loaded scaffolds intramuscularly or into critical-size skull defects, we measured the extent of heterotopic ossification and calvarial defect healing over a 6-week period via radiographic, radiomorphometric, histological, and micro-computed tomography analyses. As expected, in the absence of MDSC-B4, there was no ectopic ossification and only minimal calvarial regeneration using each type of scaffold. Although CG and gelatin sponges loaded with BMP4-secreting cells produced the most ectopic bone, FS constructs produced bone with comparably less mineralization. In the mouse calvaria, we observed MDSC-B4-loaded scaffolds able to promote bone defect healing to a variable degree, but there were differences between these implants in the volume, shape, and morphology of regenerated bone. MDSC-B4 delivery in a gelatin sponge produced hypertrophic bone, whereas delivery in a CG and FS healed the defect with bone that closely resembled the quantity and configuration of native calvarium. In summary, hydrogels are suitable carriers for osteocompetent MDSCs in promoting bone regeneration, especially at craniofacial injury sites