Mesenchymal stromal cells improve cardiac function and left ventricular remodeling in a heart transplantation model

We showed early improvement in cardiac function and subsequent enhanced ventricular remodeling, reduced cardiac fibrosis, augmented neo-vascularization and decreased cardiomyocyte apoptosis of the transplanted heart in a heterotopic transplantation model after intravenous infusion of BM-derived MSCs. Our data suggest that clinical studies with BM-MSCs are warranted to understand their effects on cardiac graft and transplant recipient survival.