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Treatment of Muscle Stem Cells with N‐acetylcysteine Increases Cardiac Repair
Author(s) -
Drowley Lauren,
Okada Masaho,
Keller Bradley,
Tobita Kimimasa,
Huard Johnny
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.235.9
Subject(s) - oxidative stress , acetylcysteine , myocyte , cardiac function curve , angiogenesis , stem cell , transplantation , medicine , myocardial infarction , glutathione , pharmacology , antioxidant , cell therapy , cardiac muscle , chemistry , cancer research , heart failure , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , enzyme
We have previously shown that muscle‐derived stem cells (MDSCs) significantly reduce negative cardiac remodeling compared to myoblasts after myocardial infarction (MI). One major issue with cellular transplantation for cardiac repair has been the poor survival of the transplanted cells. Cells that have increased survival under stressful conditions could improve functional repair, and MDSCs survive oxidative stress at significantly higher levels than myoblasts. We hypothesized that by altering the level of antioxidants in the cells, we could influence cardiac repair. To examine this, we reduced levels of the antioxidant glutathione with diethyl maleate (DEM). We also treated cells with N‐acetylcysteine (NAC), which is a direct antioxidant and increases glutathione. We examined in vitro characteristics as well as cardiac repair after a MI. Treatment with NAC significantly improved cell survival after inflammatory and oxidative stress compared to DEM and untreated cells. Cardiac function showed a trend that NAC groups improved contraction above control, and this was significant when compared to DEM and saline. The NAC group had higher angiogenesis and decreased scar tissue formation compared to the other groups. Treatment with NAC is simple, inexpensive, and does not cause a permanent transformation of the cells, making this option extremely attractive as a potential clinical treatment for cell therapy.