Transdifferentiating potential of the human peripheral blood mononuclear cell transplanted into myocardial infarction model of nude mouse

Abstract

Adult human peripheral blood cells have been shown to differentiate into mature cells of nonhematopoietic tissues. We investigated whether these cells could also transdifferentiate into human cardiomyocytes,endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells in vivo. Myocardial infarction was created in nude mice by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery,after which adult peripheral blood cells were injected into the tail vein. Hearts were harvested 2 months after injection and stained for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and markers for cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells, cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells that bear HLA were identified in the infarct and peri-infarct regions of the mouse hearts. Adult peripheral blood stem cells could transdifferentiate into cardiomyocytes and smooth muscle cells in the mice heart of myocardial infarction. The use of peripheral blood cells gave the promise of the regeneration of damaged myocardium