Expression of cardiomyocytic markers on adipose tissue-derived cells in a murine model of acute myocardial injury

BackgroundAnimal and early clinical studies have provided evidence suggesting that intracoronary administration of autologous bone marrow-derived cells results in improved outcome following myocardial infarction. Animal studies with cultured marrow stromal cells (MSC) have provided similar data. Cells with properties that are similar to MSC have been identified in adipose tissue. Other groups have demonstrated in vivo differentiation of adipose tissue-derived cells (ADC) into cells exhibiting biochemical and functional markers of cardiac myocytes, including spontaneous beating.HypothesisBased on these observations, the objective of the present study was to determine whether ADC might undergo similar differentiation in vivo in the context of myocardial injury.MethodsADC were isolated from subcutaneous adipose tissue of Rosa26 mice (which express the beta-galactosidase transgene in almost every tissue) and injected into the intraventricular chamber of B6129S recipient mice immediately following induction of...