Effects of mesenchymal stem cells with injectable scaffold on cardiac function in myocardial infarction in Rabbit

Background: bone marrow-derived mesenchymal cells can transdifferentiate into cardiomyocyte cells and improve heart function after transplantation. since biomaterials can improve the cell retention in the site, cell survival and dif-ferentiation, heart tissue engineering is now being explored as an applied solution to support cell-based therapies and increase their efficacy for myocardial diseases. chitosan in combination with glycerol phosphate (gp) can produce a thermo sensitive material that in body temperature can form a jellylike material. objectives: the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a combination of autologous undifferentiated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) and injectable scaffold on cardiac function improvement in rabbits after inducing myocardial infarction. methods: the left anterior descending (lad) coronary artery was ligated by no. 6-0 polyamide suture material, and autologous mscs with injectable scaffold were injected into the margins of the infarcted zone at the time of surgery. at 4 weeks after transplantation, the cardiac function and structure was detected using echocardiography. results: there was no significant difference among the three groups (mi only, mi scaffold, and mi+scaffold+mscs) in the echocardio-graphic parameters including, heart rate (hr), ejection fraction (ef), fractional shortening (fs), left ventricular diameter (lvd) and left ventricular parietal wall diameter (lvpw). conclusions: a combination of autologous undifferentiated bone marrow mscs and injectable scaffold made of chitosan+ glycerol phosphate in echocardiographic evaluation did not have a positive influence on achieving functional improvement.