Cell transplantation after the coculture of skeletal myoblasts and mesenchymal stem cells in the regeneration of the myocardium scar: An experimental study in rats

In myocardial infarction and Chagas's disease, some physiopathological aspects are common: cardiomyocyte loss due to ischemia leads to a reduction of contractility and heart function. Different cells have been proposed for cellular cardiomioplasty. Objective. Our goal was to evaluate the method of co-culture of skeletal muscle (SM) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for cell therapy of heart failure in Chagas's disease (CD) and myocardium postinfarction (MI). Methods. For MI, 39 rats completed the study at I month. Seventeen rats received cell therapy into the scar and 22 rats only medium. For CD, 15 rats completed the study at 1 month including 7 that received cell therapy and eight followed the natural evolution. All animals underwent ecocardiographic analysis at baseline and 1 month. Left ventricular, ejection fraction, end systolic, and end dyastolic volume were registered and analyzed by ANOVA. The co-culture method of SM and MSC was performed at 14 days (DMEM, with 15% FCS, 1% antibiotic, IGF-I, dexamethasone). Standard stain analysis was performed. Results. For MI ejection fraction in the animals that received the co-cultured cells increased from 23.52 +/- 8.67 to 31.45 +/- 8.87 (P =.006) versus the results in the control group: 26.68 +/- 6.92 to 22.32 +/- 6.94 (P =.004). For CD, ejection fraction in animals that received the co-cultured cells increased from 31.10 +/- 5.78 to 53.37 +/- 5.84 (P <.001) versus the control group values of 36.21 +/- 3.70 to 38.19 +/- 7.03 (P = 0.426). Histopathological analysis of the animals receiving co-cultured cells demonstrated the presence of myogenesis and angiogenesis. Conclusion. The results validated the product of SM and MSC co-cultures for treatment of diseases.