International Journal of Stem Cells  2012;5(1):23-30

Long-term Angiogenesis Efficacy Using a Heparin-Conjugated Fibrin (HCF) Delivery System with HBM-MSCs.

Ae Kyeong KIM 1 ; Min Hee KIM ; Byung Soo KIM ; Dong Ik KIM

Affiliations

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Keywords

Angiogenesis; Ischemia; Heparin-conjugated fibrin; HBM-MSCs; Vascular disease

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Heparin-conjugated fibrin (HCF) is suitable for the release and localization of bFGF. We analyzed the effects of a bFGF delivery system using HCF with human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HBM- MSCs) in a dog ischemic limb model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Animals were divided into HBM-MSCs, HBM-MSCs+HCF, bFGF-HCF, and HBM-MSCs+bFGF-HCF groups. A total of 1x10(7) HBM-MSCs were injected per animal, and the amount of bFGF was 1 mg per dog. Ischemic muscles were harvested at eight weeks and six months after injection of cells. The HBM-MSCs+bFGF-HCF group exhibited decreased proportions of capillaries and arterioles six months after transplantation. However, there were more cells positive for the angiogenic factors, VEGF and PDGF, in the eight-week specimens compared with those harvested six months after transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that a single injection of HBM-MSCs did not have significant long-term angiogenic effects; however, a bFGF delivery system using HCF exerted prolonged angiogenic effects when combined with HBM-MSCs.