Angiogenic stem cell delivery platform to augment post-infarction neovasculature and reverse ventricular remodeling

This study investigates the influence of a bi-level (endothelial progenitor cell + smooth muscle cell) , human cell sheet on ischemic myocardium. Overall design: Eight-week-old Female athymic rats were subjected to either sham operation or complete proximal left anterior descending artery ligation (myocardial infarction). Animals subjected to infarction received either no treatment or application of a bi-level cell sheet over the infarct region. One week after surgery, hearts were explanted and separate tissue samples were collected from the infarct (I), border zone (BZ) and remote (R) regions of the left ventricle and snap frozen for RNA extraction and sequencing.