Rationale Despite significant interest in bone marrow mononuclear cell (BMC) therapy for ischemic heart disease, current techniques have resulted in only modest benefits. However, select patients have shown improvements after autologous BMC therapy, but the contributing factors are unclear. Objective The purpose of this study was to identify BMC characteristics associated with a reduction in infarct size following STEMI. Methods and Results This prospective study comprised patients consecutively enrolled in the CCTRN TIME trial who agreed to have their BMCs stored and analyzed at the CCTRN Biorepository. Change in infarct size between baseline (3 days after percutaneous coronary intervention) and 6-month follow-up was measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI). Infarct-size measurements and BMC phenotype and function data were obtained for 101 patients (mean age, 56.5 years; mean screening ejection fraction, 37%; mean baseline cMRI ejection fraction, 45%). At 6 months, 75 patients (74.3%) showed a reduction in infarct size (mean change, -21.0%±17.6%). Multiple regression analysis indicated that infarct size reduction was greater in patients who had a larger percentage of CD31+ BMCs (P=0.046) and in those with faster BMC growth rates in CFU-Hill and ECFC functional assays (P=0.033 and P=0.032, respectively). Conclusions This study identified BMC characteristics associated with a better clinical outcome in patients with STEMI and highlighted the importance of endothelial precursor activity in regenerating infarcted myocardium. Furthermore, it suggests that for these STEMI patients, myocardial repair was more dependent on baseline BMC characteristics than on whether the patient underwent intracoronary BMC transplantation. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00684021

de Resende MM, Amaral SL, Moreno C, Greene AS. Congenic strains reveal the effect of the renin gene on skeletal muscle angiogenesis induced by electrical stimulation. Physiol Genomics 33: 33-40, 2008. First published January 15, 2008 doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00150.2007.-Previous studies have indicated the importance of angiotensin II (ANG II) in skeletal muscle angiogenesis. The present study explored the effect of regulation of the renin gene on angiogenesis induced by electrical stimulation with the use of physiological, pharmacological, and genetic manipulations of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Transfer of the entire chromosome 13, containing the physiologically regulated renin gene, from the normotensive inbred Brown Norway (BN) rat into the background of an inbred substrain of the Dahl salt-sensitive (SS/Mcwi) rat restored renin levels and the angiogenic response after electrical stimulation. This restored response was significantly attenuated when SS-13 BN /Mcwi consomic rats were treated with lisinopril or high-salt diet. The role of ANG II on this effect was confirmed by the complete restoration of skeletal muscle angiogenesis in SS/Mcwi rats infused with subpressor doses of ANG II. Congenic strains derived from the SS-13 BN /Mcwi consomic were used to further verify the role of the renin gene in this response. Microvessel density was markedly increased after stimulation in congenic strains that contained the renin gene from the BN rat (congenic lines A and D). This angiogenic response was suppressed in control strains that carried regions of the BN genome just above (congenic line C) or just below (congenic line B) the renin gene. The present study emphasizes the importance of maintaining normal renin regulation as well as ANG II levels during the angiogenesis process with a combination of physiological, genetic, and pharmacological manipulation of the RAS. renin-angiotensin system; chromosomal substitution THE IMPORTANCE of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in controlling sodium homeostasis and vascular resistance is well established; however, in the past decade, much attention has been focused on the importance of angiotensin II (ANG II) as a regulator of microvessel density. Studies from our laboratory (2-4, 15, 37, 42) over the last 5 years have shown that ANG II is an essential component of the control system regulating microvessel density in the skeletal muscle. We have shown that inhibition of RAS activity with the use of pharmacological blockers of ANG II formation and blockade of the angiotensin type 1 (AT 1 ) receptor significantly attenuated the skeletal muscle angiogenic response of normotensive rats induced by exercise (3) and electrical stimulation (2). In addition, we found (37) that chronic infusion of ANG II, at subpressor doses, completely restored the angiogenesis response induced by electrical stimulation in rats fed a high-salt diet. The effects of high salt on microvascular structure and function in the absence of hypertension have been largely attributed to the suppress...

Autologous bone marrow cell (BMC) transplantation has been shown as a potential approach to treat various ischemic diseases. However, under many conditions BMC dysfunction has been reported, leading to poor cell engraftment and a failure of tissue revascularization. We have previously shown that skeletal muscle angiogenesis induced by electrical stimulation (ES) is impaired in the SS/Mcwi rats and that this effect is related to a dysregulation of the renin angiotensin system (RAS) that is normalized by the replacement of chromosome 13 derived from the Brown Norway rat (SS-13(BN)/Mcwi consomic rats). The present study explored bone marrow-derived endothelial cell (BM-EC) function in the SS/Mcwi rat and its impact on skeletal muscle angiogenesis induced by ES. SS/Mcwi rats were randomized to receive BMC from: SS/Mcwi; SS-13(BN)/Mcwi; SS/Mcwi rats infused with saline or ANG II (3 ng kg(-1) min(-1)). BMC were injected in the stimulated tibialis anterior muscle of SS/Mcwi rats. Vessel density was evaluated in unstimulated and stimulated muscles after 7 days of ES. BMC isolated from SS/Mcwi or SS/Mcwi rats infused with saline failed to restore angiogenesis induced by ES. However, BMC isolated from SS-13(BN)/Mcwi and SS/Mcwi rats infused with ANG II effectively restored the angiogenesis response in the SS/Mcwi recipient. Furthermore, ANG II infusion increased the capacity of BM-EC to induce endothelial cell tube formation in vitro and slightly increased VEGF protein expression. This study suggests that dysregulation of the RAS in the SS/Mcwi rat contributes to impaired BM-EC function and could impact the angiogenic therapeutic potential of BMC.

1. Aldosterone has been considered a key hormone in the regulation of water, sodium and potassium metabolism, thus influencing blood pressure regulation. More recently, several studies have demonstrated that aldosterone is also produced in extra-adrenal tissues (e.g. the heart), suggesting a paracrine effect for aldosterone, such as to increase collagen synthesis in the heart. 2. Because aldosterone production in the heart increases after myocardial infarction (MI), we investigated the effect of chronic administration of spironolactone, an aldosterone receptor antagonist, in rats after MI compared with the effects produced by losartan and hydralazine. 3. Myocardial infarction was produced in male Wistar rats by surgical ligature of the left coronary artery. Sham-operated animals were used as controls. 4. Spironolactone (20 mg/kg per day), losartan (15 mg/kg per day) or hydralazine (20 microg/kg per day) were administered after MI and used for 1 month. 5. At the end of the treatment period, animals underwent haemodynamic recording (arterial and intraventricular pressures). The collagen content of the heart was evaluated by measuring the hydroxyproline (OH-Pro) concentration in right (RV) and left ventricle (LV) muscle fragments. 6. Infarct size was unaffected by drug treatments. The increased LV end-diastolic pressure observed in MI rats was prevented by losartan and remained unchanged following administration of spironolactone or hydralazine. 7. Losartan prevented RV and LV hypertrophy, as well as collagen proliferation in both ventricles, after MI. The postinfarction hypertrophy observed in RV and LV after MI remained unchanged in infarcted groups treated with spironolactone or hydralazine. 8. The OH-Pro concentration was significantly reduced in LV muscle in the MI group treated with spironolactone (682 +/- 40 vs 557 +/- 21 microg/g for MI vs MI + spironolactone, respectively; P < 0.05), an effect not observed in the hydralazine-treated group. 9. These data suggest that spironolactone prevents collagen proliferation in the surviving myocardium by mechanisms independent of the loading conditions of the heart chambers. Control of postinfarction hypertrophy and collagen accumulation produced by losartan seems to depend on the reduction in loading conditions of the heart chambers.

. Role of endothelial cell apoptosis in regulation of skeletal muscle angiogenesis during high and low salt intake. Physiol Genomics 25: 325-335, 2006. First published February 7, 2006 doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00253.2005.-Angiogenesis, under normal conditions, is a tightly regulated balance between pro-and antiangiogenic factors. The goal of this study was to investigate the mechanisms involved in the control of the skeletal muscle angiogenic response induced by electrical stimulation during the suppression of plasma renin activity (PRA) with a high-salt diet. Rats fed 0.4% or 4% salt diets were exposed to electrical stimulation for 7 days. The tibialis anterior (TA) muscles from stimulated and unstimulated hindlimbs were removed and prepared for gene expression analysis, CD31-terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) double-staining assay, and Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression by Western blot. Rats fed a low-salt diet showed a dramatic angiogenesis response in the stimulated limb compared with the unstimulated limb. This angiogenesis response was significantly attenuated when rats were placed on a high-salt diet. Microarray analysis showed that in the stimulated limb of rats fed a low-salt diet many genes related to angiogenesis were upregulated. In contrast, in rats fed a high-salt diet most of the genes upregulated in the stimulated limb function in apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Endothelial cell apoptosis, as analyzed by CD31-TUNEL staining, increased by fourfold in the stimulated limb compared with the unstimulated limb. There was also a 48% decrease in the Bcl-2-to-Bax ratio in stimulated compared with unstimulated limbs of rats fed a high-salt diet, confirming severe apoptosis. This study suggests that the increase in endothelial cell apoptosis in TA muscle might contribute to the attenuation of angiogenesis response observed in rats fed a high-salt diet.Bax; Bcl-2; gene expression THE GROWTH OF NEW BLOOD VESSELS plays a critical role in normal physiological processes but is also central to the progression of many diseases. Angiogenesis is involved in several disorders such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and endometriosis (15). In an attempt to control pathological angiogenesis, a growing interest in better understanding prosurvival and prodeath signals has emerged (7,8,26,34). Each endothelial cell within a vessel wall is exposed to a combination of prosurvival and prodeath signals. The sum of these signals determines whether the cell remains viable or undergoes apoptosis (10).Our laboratory has demonstrated that physiological, pharmacological, or genetic manipulation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has an important impact on both the basal number of microcirculatory blood vessels and the ability of tissues to undergo angiogenesis induced by exercise (3) or electrical stimulation (2). In previous studies (4), we demonstrated that transfer of a region of chromosome 13 containing the renin gene from Dahl R into Dahl S rats restores both p...