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Abstract
<p class="first" id="P10">The intent of the current study was to investigate the therapeutic
contribution of
MSCs to vascular regeneration and functional recovery of ischemic tissue. We used
a rodent hind limb ischemia model and intramuscularly delivered MSCs within a PEGylated
fibrin gel matrix. Within this model, we demonstrated that MSC therapy, when delivered
in PEGylated fibrin, results in significantly higher mature blood vessel formation,
which allows for greater functional recovery of skeletal muscle tissue as assessed
using force production measurements. We observed initial signs of vascular repair
at early time points when MSCs were delivered without PEGylated fibrin, but this did
not persist or lead to recovery of the tissue in the long-term. Furthermore, animals
which were treated with PEGylated fibrin alone exhibited a greater number of mature
blood vessels, but they did not arterialize and did not show improvements in force
production. These results demonstrate that revascularization of ischemic tissue may
be a necessary but not sufficient step to complete functional repair of the injured
tissue. This work has implications on stem cell therapies for ischemic diseases and
also potentially on how such therapies are evaluated.
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