OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of liver X receptor (LXR) agonist on adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) implantation into infarcted hearts of mice.

METHODAD-MSC(Fluc+) which stably expressed firefly luciferase (Fluc) were isolated from β-actin-Fluc transgenic mice and characterized by flow cytometry. Male FVB mice were randomly allocated into the following four groups (n = 10 each): (1) sham group; (2) MI + PBS group; (3) MI + AD-MSC(Fluc+) group; (4) MI + AD-MSC(Fluc+) + LXR agonist (T0901317) group. AD-MSC(Fluc+) or PBS were injected intramyocardial into peri-infarcted region of mice heart after permanent left anterior descending (LAD) artery ligation. Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) was performed for quantification of injected cells retention and survival. Cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiography.

RESULTSThe AD-MSC(Fluc+) were positive for CD44 and CD90 by flow cytometry. BLI evidenced the firefly luciferase expression of AD-MSC(Fluc+) which was positively correlated with cell numbers (r(2) = 0.98). The results of BLI in vivo revealed that LXR agonist could improve the survival of AD-MSC(Fluc+) at day 7, 14 and 21 after transplantation compared with AD-MSC(Fluc+) alone group. Cardiac function was further improved in combination therapy group compared with AD-MSC(Fluc+) alone group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSLXR agonist T0901317 can improve the retention and survival of intramyocardial injected AD-MSC(Fluc+) post-MI, and the combination therapy of T0901317 and AD-MSC(Fluc+) has a synergetic effect on improving cardiac function in this model.