[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To study the effect of livin gene-modified bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells ( BM-MSCs) transplantation on the cardiac function following acute myocardial infarction in a rat model and the expression of livin , caspase-3, caspase-7 and caspase-9 in the livin gene-modified BM-MSCs.METHODS: The MSCs were obtained by the whole bone marrow culture method , and the apoptosis of the MSCs after infection with adenovirus vector carrying enhanced green fluorescent protein ( EGFP) gene and livin recombinant vector ( rAd-livin) were detected by flow cytometry .The ex-pression of livin, caspase-3, caspase-7 and caspase-9 was detected by Western blot .After permanent left anterior descend-ing artery occlusion , the rats were randomized to receive intramyocardial injection of DMEM without cells ( vehicle group ) , or containing MSCs ( MSCs group ) , MSCs ( EGFP ) ( rAd-control/MSCs group ) or MSCs ( livin ) ( rAd-livin/MSCs group).Left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), the maximum in-creased rate of left ventricular pressure ( -dp/dtmax ) and the maximum decline rate of left ventricular pressure ( +dp/dtmax ) were recorded for evaluating the cardiac functions .RESULTS: The apoptosis of rAd-livin/MSCs was significantly decreased as compared with MSCs and rAd-control/MSCs (P<0.05).Meanwhile, the expression of caspase-3, caspase-7 and caspase-9 was significantly downregulated as compared with the other 2 groups ( P<0.05 ) .The cardiac function in rAd-livin/MSCs group was significantly improved as compared with DMEM group , and those in the other 2 groups got the similar results, but the function in rAd-livin/MSCs group was better improved .Meanwhile, the number of surviving cells in rAd-livin/MSCs group was significantly improved as compared with the other 2 groups .CONCLUSION:The apoptosis of MSCs is decreased after rAd-livin transfection, and the expression of caspase-3, caspase-7 and caspase-9 is also significant-ly downregulated while the expression of livin is significantly upregulated .Transplantation of livin-modified BM-MSCs by lentiviral vector results in better prognosis for treating myocardial infarction by enhancing cell survival .