Therapeutic angiogenesis promotes efficacy of human umbilical cord matrix stem cell transplantation in cardiac repair

Objective(s): Although previous studies have confirmed the beneficial effects of human umbilical cord matrix stem cell (hUCM) transplantation post myocardial infarction (MI), but this stem cell resource has no potential to induce angiogenesis. In order to achieve the process of angiogenesis and cardiomyocyte regeneration, two required factors for cardiac repair agents were examined namely; hUCM and VEGF on an infarcted heart. The main objective of this research is to investigate the combinatory effect of dhUCM and VEGF transplantation on an infarcted heart. Materials and Methods: 45 min of ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery, the MI-induced animals received 50 μl PBS, 5 μg VEGF, 5×106 hUCM cells alone, combined with 5 μg VEGF and 5×106 differentiated hUCM cells alone or combined with 5 μg VEGF through intramyocardial injection. MI group, without hUCM and VEGF served as the control group. Left ventricular function and angiogenesis were also evaluated. Results: After eight weeks post MI, there were significant rise in left ventricular ejection farction in dhUCM+VEGF group compared to the other treated and non-treated groups (P