Fig. 4

Influence of culture conditions on heart explant-derived cell (EDC) mediated repair of injured myocardium. a Schemata of the experimental protocol demonstrating echocardiographic-guided intramyocardial injection of 100,000 EDCs into immunodeficient non-obese diabetic severed combined immunodeficient mice 1 week after left coronary artery (LCA) ligation. EDCs cultured using standard serum media in standard cell culture conditions (Serum STD env), serum-free media in STD cell culture conditions (SF STD env), serum-free media-derived EDCs expanded for 1 week in STD cell culture conditions (exSF STD env), and SF media expanded EDCs cultured entirely within continuous physiologic controlled (exSF Phys Env) culture conditions were compared. b Effects of EDC transplant on echocardiographic ejection fraction 3 weeks after cell injection. n = 10 to 13 per group. c EDC engraftment 3 weeks after intramyocardial injection as determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis for retained human alu sequences (left panel; n = 6 per group) or random field counts of human nuclear antigen+ (HNA+)/4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole+ (DAPI+) cells (right panel; n = 8 per group). d Effects of EDC transplant on vessel density (isolectin B4+) within the peri-infarct region. n = 5 per group. e Effects of EDCs on the overall percentage infarcted myocardium (left panel; n = 5 per group) and percentage of viable myocardium within the infarct zone (right panel; n = 6 per group) as determined from Masson’s trichrome staining. *p ≤ 0.05. LCA, left coronary artery; NOD-SCID, non-obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficient; qPCR, quantitative polymerase chain reaction