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TISSUE-SPECIFIC STEM CELLS

Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells Improve Left Ventricular Function, Induce Angiogenesis, and Reduce Infarct Size in Rats with Acute Myocardial Infarction

^aUnidad de Cardiorregeneración, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, Spain;
^bUniversidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain;
^cFundación Hospital General Universitario, Valencia, Spain;
^dCentro de Transfusion de la Comunidad Valenciana, Valencia, Spain;
^eServicio de Cirugía Cardiaca, Hospital Universitario La Fe, Valencia, Spain

Key Words. Stem cell therapy • Ventricular remodeling • Left ventricular function • Dental pulp stem cells • Mesenchymal stem cells

Correspondence: Pilar Sepúlveda, Ph.D., Fundación Hospital General Universitario, Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia, Avenida Tres Cruces s/n, 46014 Valencia, Spain. Telephone: 34-961972146; Fax: 34-961972145; e-mail: pilar.sepulveda{at}uv.es, http://www.uv.es/sepulves

Received June 19, 2007; accepted for publication December 4, 2007.
First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS   December 13, 2007.



Human dental pulp contains precursor cells termed dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) that show self-renewal and multilineage differentiation and also secrete multiple proangiogenic and antiapoptotic factors. To examine whether these cells could have therapeutic potential in the repair of myocardial infarction (MI), DPSC were infected with a retrovirus encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and expanded ex vivo. Seven days after induction of myocardial infarction by coronary artery ligation, 1.5 x 10⁶ GFP-DPSC were injected intramyocardially in nude rats. At 4 weeks, cell-treated animals showed an improvement in cardiac function, observed by percentage changes in anterior wall thickening left ventricular fractional area change, in parallel with a reduction in infarct size. No histologic evidence was seen of GFP⁺ endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, or cardiac muscle cells within the infarct. However, angiogenesis was increased relative to control-treated animals. Taken together, these data suggest that DPSC could provide a novel alternative cell population for cardiac repair, at least in the setting of acute MI.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

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