Research Paper|Volume 13, Issue 11|pp 15032—15043

hAECs and their exosomes improve cardiac function after acute myocardial infarction in rats

Yi-Qing Zhang¹, Lu Hong², Yu-Feng Jiang², Sheng-Da Hu², Nan-Nan Zhang¹, Lang-Biao Xu¹, Hong-Xia Li², Gui-Dong Xu¹, Ya-Feng Zhou², Kang-Yun Sun¹

¹Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Gusu School, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China
²Department of Cardiology, DuShu Lake Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China

* Equal contribution

Received: September 17, 2020Accepted: February 8, 2021Published: May 24, 2021

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203066

Copyright: © 2021 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Background: Human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) are seed cells used to treat acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but their mechanism remains unclear.

Methods: We cultured hAECs and extracted exosomes from culture supernatants. Next, we established a stable AMI model in rats and treated them with hAECs, exosomes, or PBS. We assess cardiac function after treatment by echocardiography. Additionally, heart tissues were collected and analyzed by Masson’s trichrome staining. We conducted the tube formation and apoptosis assays to explore the potential mechanisms.

Results: Cardiac function was improved, and tissue fibrosis was decreased following implantation of hAECs and their exosomes. Echocardiography showed that the EF and FS were lower in the control group than in the hAEC and exosome groups, and that the LVEDD and LVESD were higher in the control group (P<0.05). Masson’s trichrome staining showed that the fibrotic area was larger in the control group. Tube formation was more efficient in the hAEC and exosome groups (P<0.0001). Additionally, the apoptosis rates of myocardial cells in the hAEC and exosome groups were significantly decreased (P<0.0001).

Conclusions: hAECs and their exosomes improved the cardiac function of rats after AMI by promoting angiogenesis and reducing the apoptosis of cardiac myocytes.