Figure 5.
High Adiponectin Levels Augment the Cardioprotective Effects of hMSCs
(A) Experimental design for hMSC intravenous injection and simultaneous oral (p.o.) administration of pioglitazone (Pio; 30 mg/mL, BID) into mice of the transverse aortic constriction (TAC) model. hMSCs were injected at a concentration of 1.67 × 105 cells per body via the tail vein. The injection was repeated 6 times at 2- to 3-day intervals within a period of 2 weeks. Echocardiography was performed at day 14. (B) Plasma adiponectin levels were analyzed by ELISA (n = 4–13). n.d., not detected. (C) Representative immunoblots. Serum exosomes from WT mice were subjected to western blot analysis with the indicated antibodies of exosome markers. (D) Exosome marker levels from western blots (n = 6). (E) Heart weight per tibia length ratio (n = 4–13). (F) Representative images of echocardiography. (G) Ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) at 2 weeks after TAC or sham surgery (n = 3–9). Data are mean ± SEM. ∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01; ∗∗∗p < 0.001 versus sham. †p < 0.05; ††p < 0.01; †††p < 0.001 between groups, by one-way analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons.