University at Buffalo researchers have demonstrated for the first time that injecting adult bone marrow stem cells into skeletal muscle can repair cardiac tissue, reversing heart failure.
Using an animal model, the researchers showed that this non-invasive procedure increased myocytes, or heart cells, by two-fold and reduced cardiac tissue injury by 60 percent.The therapy also improved function of the left ventricle, the primary pumping chamber of the heart, by 40 percent and reduced fibrosis, the hardening of the heart lining that impairs its ability to contract, by up to 50 percent.
"This work demonstrates a novel non-invasive mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapeutic
regimen for heart failure based on an intramuscular delivery route," said Techung Lee, Ph.D., UB associate professor of biochemistry and senior author on the paper. Mesenchymal stem cells are found in the bone marrow and can differentiate into a variety of cell types.
