HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Tetsuya Kitagawa Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Yoshida, H. Articles by Kitagawa, T. PubMed Articles by Yoshida, H. Articles by Kitagawa, T. Related Collections Lung - other Related Article

---

Original Articles: General Thoracic

Syngeneic Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells Improve Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Through Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Upregulation

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan

Accepted for publication April 27, 2009.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Kitagawa, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Tokushima Graduate School, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima, 770-8503, Japan (Email: kitagawa{at}clin.med.tokushima-u.ac.jp).

Background: We investigated the effects and possible mechanism of syngeneic bone marrow mononuclear cell (BM-MNC) transplantation on pulmonary arterial hypertension induced by monocrotaline.

Methods: Monocrotaline (80 mg/kg body weight) was administrated to C57BL/6 mice, and pulmonary arterial hypertension was induced 4 weeks later. Bone marrow mononuclear cells harvested from syngeneic donor mice were injected intravenously into those mice 4 weeks after monocrotaline administration. The ratio of right ventricular to septum plus left ventricular weight, the number of small pulmonary arteries, and medial thickness of pulmonary arteries were measured. Western immunoblotting of the lung tissue was performed to observe vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor expression 1 week after BM-MNC transplantation. Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 inhibitor was administered to pulmonary arterial hypertension mice simultaneously with BM-MNC transplantation.

Results: The ratio of right ventricular to septum plus left ventricular weight increased, the number of pulmonary arteries decreased, and medial thickness increased significantly 4 weeks after monocrotaline injection compared with those of vehicle-injected mice. These indices of monocrotaline-injected mice improved significantly 4 weeks after BM-MNC transplantation compared with those of mice at 8 weeks after monocrotaline injection (0.22 ± 0.02 versus 0.31 ± 0.02; 17.1 ± 2.6 versus 8.2 ± 1.7; 7.7% ± 2.2% versus 20% ± 2.1%, respectively; p < 0.01). However, BM-MNCs were not incorporated into the lung at 1 week after transplantation, and significant vascular endothelial growth factor upregulation and without receptor expression was observed in lung tissue 1 week after transplantation. Improvement of pulmonary arterial hypertension was inhibited by simultaneous administration of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 inhibitor with BM-MNC transplantation.

Conclusions: These results indicate that syngeneic BM-MNC transplantation improves monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension by favorable pulmonary artery remodeling through vascular endothelial growth factor upregulation.

Related Article

Invited Commentary

Thomas K. Waddell
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2009 88: 424-425. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. K. Waddell Invited commentary. Ann. Thorac. Surg., August 1, 2009; 88(2): 424 - 425. [Full Text] [PDF]