left ventricular geometry and angiogenesis improvement in rat chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy following injection of encapsulated mesenchymal stem cells

Objective: injection of hydrogel and cells into myocardial infarction (mi) patients is one of the emerging treatment techniques, however, it has some limitations such as a lack of electromechanical properties and neovascularization.we investigated the therapeutic potential of new electroactive hydrogel [reduced graphene oxide (rgo)/alginate (alg)] encapsulated human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (bmscs).materials and methods: the experimental study involved ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery (lad) in rat models of chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy. echocardiograms were analyzed at 4 and 8 weeks after mi treatment. in the eighth week after injection in the heart, the rats were sacrificed. histological and immunohistochemical analyseswere performed using hematoxylin and eosin (h&e) staining, masson’s trichrome staining and anti-cd31 antibody to analyze tissue structure and detect neovascularization.results: in comparison to the control and other treatment groups, mscs encapsulated in rgo-alg showed significant improvements in fractional shortening (fs), ejection fraction (ef), wall thickness and internal diameters (p<0.05). the morphological observation showed several small blood vessels formed around the transplantation site in all treatedgroups especially in the msc-alg-rgo group 8 weeks after the transplantation. also, masson’s trichrome staining indicated an increased amount of collagen fibers in rgo-alg-msc. microvessel density was significantly higher using msc-alg-rgo compared to controls (p<0.01). conclusion: this study demonstrates that intramyocardial injection of rgo/alg, a bio-electroactive hydrogel, is safefor increasing lv function, neovascularization, and adjusting electrical characteristics following mi. the results confirm alg promising capability as a natural therapeutic for cardiac regeneration.