ExperimentalImmunosuppressionAdministration of Donor-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Can Prolong the Survival of Rat Cardiac Allograft
Section snippets
Experimental Animals
Inbred Wistar rats weighing 180 to 200 g and Fisher344(F344) rats weighing 160 to 180 g were used as donors and recipients in a cardiac allograft model, respectively. Animals were purchased from National Rodent Laboratory Animal Resources, Shanghai Branch (Shanghai, China) and humanely cared for in compliance with institutional guidelines.
Cell Isolation, Culture, and Characterization
Isolation and primary culture of MSCs were performed according to a protocol modified from a previously reported method.13 Briefly, after donor Wistar rats
Cell Culture of MSCs and Immunocytochemistry
The MSCs were isolated according to their ability to adhere to cell culture plastic. In vitro MSCs appeared as two distinct morphological phenotypes. Cells from passage 0 demonstrated a fibroblast-like, spindle-shaped morphology (Fig 1A). Later, MSCs began to display a broadened, flat morphology (Fig 1B). Immunocytochemical findings revealed that MSCs were negative for hematopoietic markers CD34, CD45, or endothelial cell marker CD31, but typically expressed the antigens CD29, CD106, and CD117 (
Discussion
Our study reported the implication for heart transplantation of the immunological properties of MSC. Infusion of MSCs appeared to shift the Th1/Th2 balance toward a Th2-type response. This shift of Th1/Th2 balance seemed to be closely associated with a significant prolongation of heart allograft survival.
Although there are several reports on the isolation of MSCs, we have selected the most efficient and clinically accessible method to obtain highly purified MSCs. The immunophenotype profile of
Acknowledgments
We thank P. Yuan, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, for his expert help with the real-time PCR study.
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