| First Author | Cimini M | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | Circulation | Volume | 116 |
| Issue | 11 Suppl | Pages | I77-82 |
| PubMed ID | 17846329 | Mgi Jnum | J:139839 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3810227 | Doi | 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.708107 |
| Citation | Cimini M, et al. (2007) c-kit dysfunction impairs myocardial healing after infarction. Circulation 116(11 Suppl):I77-82 |
| abstractText | BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that c-kit receptor function in the bone marrow is important for facilitating healing, leading to efficient cardiac repair after myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS AND RESULTS: We used Kit(W)/Kit(W-v) c-kit mutant mice and their wild-type littermates to assess the importance of c-kit function in cardiac remodeling after coronary ligation. We found that mutant mice developed 1.6-fold greater ventricular dilation (P=0.008) attributable to a 1.3-fold greater infarct expansion by day 14 after MI (P=0.01). The number of proliferating smooth muscle alpha-actin expressing cells was 1.8-fold lower in mutant mice at day 3 (P<0.01), resulting in a 1.6 to 1.8-fold reduction in total regional nonvascular smooth muscle alpha-actin expressing cells by both microscopy and flow cytometry (P<0.001 for both). This decrease was accompanied by a 1.4-fold reduction in the number of CD31 expressing blood vessels (P<0.05). Prior transplantation of wild-type bone marrow cells into mutant mice rescued the efficient establishment of vessel-rich repair tissue by inducing a 1.5-fold increase in nonvascular smooth muscle alpha-actin expressing cells and CD31 expressing blood vessels (P<0.05 for both). The increased recruitment of cells into the infarct region in the chimeric mice was associated with reduced infarct expansion (P<0.03) compared to wild-type levels. CONCLUSIONS: Bone marrow c-kit function critically impacts the myofibroblast repair response in infarcted hearts. Interventions that increase the infiltration of c-kit+ cells to the infarcted heart may potentiate this endogenous repair response, prevent infarct expansion, and improve the recovery of cardiac function after MI. |
