Cardiac telocytes were decreased during myocardial infarction and their therapeutic effects for ischaemic heart in rat

Abstract

Recently, cardiac telocytes were found in the myocardium. However, the functional role of cardiac telocytes and possible changes in the cardiac telocyte population during myocardial infarction in the myocardium are not known. In this study, the role of the recently identified cardiac telocytes in myocardial infarction (MI) was investigated. Cardiac telocytes were distributed longitudinally and within the cross network of the myocardium, which was impaired during MI. Cardiac telocytes in the infarction zone were undetectable from approximately 4 days to 4 weeks after an experimental coronary occlusion was used to induce MI. Although cardiac telocytes in the non-ischaemic area of the ischaemic heart experienced cell death, the cell density increased approximately 2 weeks after experimental coronary occlusion. The cell density was then maintained at a level similar to that observed 1–4 days after left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD)-ligation, but was still lower than normal after 2 weeks. We also found that simultaneous transplantation of cardiac telocytes in the infarcted and border zones of the heart decreased the infarction size and improved myocardial function. These data indicate that cardiac telocytes, their secreted factors and microvesicles, and the microenvironment may be structurally and functionally important for maintenance of the physiological integrity of the myocardium. Rebuilding the cardiac telocyte network in the infarcted zone following MI may be beneficial for functional regeneration of the infarcted myocardium.

A comprehensive guide to telocytes and their great potential in cardiovascular system

“…Moreover, expression of angiogenic VEGF and NOS2 was observed in the border zone of MI in TCs located in the close proximity to capillaries (41). Additionally, cytochemical analysis of TCs located in the muscular stem cell niche demonstrated expression of endoglin (CD105), which is a vascular proliferation marker (48).…”

“…Among them, myocardial infarction (MI) can be mentioned. TCs are particularly prone to ischaemia and hence their network is almost completely destroyed due to MI (41). Other conditions connected with TCs depletion are dilated, ischaemic and infl ammatory cardiomyopathies as well as cardiac manifestation of systemic sclerosis (15,30).…”

“…Occasionally, TCs express miRNAs specifi c for cells of different type (such as miR-143/145 characteristic for VSMCs), which may indicate their participation in convergence of many complex signalling pathways (41).…”

Increased telocytes involved in the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells in rat carotid artery balloon injury

“…Increasing evidence has indicated that TCs are involved in the pathological processes of many diseases, including myocardial infarction (Manole et al, 2011;Zhao et al, 2013Zhao et al, , 2014, heart failure (Richter and Kostin, 2015), renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (Li et al, 2014), liver fibrosis (Fu et al, 2015), and others. However, the potential roles and mechanisms of TCs in the repair of vascular injury remained to be elucidated.…”

The functional morphology and role of cardiac telocytes in myocardium regeneration

“…Ultrastructurally, these cells are characterized by degenerative processes including cytoplasmic vacuolization, shrinkage, and shortening of the cytoplasmic prolongations (telopodes). The reduced number of cardiac telocytes was also described during experimental myocardial infarction in rats (Zhao et al 2013). …”