Intramyocardial gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor 121 improves myocardial perfusion and function in the ischemic porcine heart

• Ariana G Ojalvo ^[1] ; Alina Seralena ^[1] ; Nelson S Vispo ^[1] ; Ricardo Silva ^[1] ; Noel Gonzalez ^[2] ; Luis Guevara ^[2] ; Juan F Batista ^[3] ; Jose F. Montequin ^[4] ; Nicolas Chaos ^[2] ; Rafael González ^[2] ; Camilo Reima ^[2] ; Yamile Peña ^[3] ; Marcos Coca ^[3] ; Alejandro Perera ^[3] ; Raysa Vazquez ^[1] ; Yaquelin Puchades ^[1] ; Tamara Garcia-Osuna ^[5] ; Heberto Dominguez ^[5] ; Jose L. Reyes ^[5] ; Alfonso Ali ^[1] ; Luis Herrera ^[1]
  1. [1] Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología

     Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología

     Cuba

     
  2. [2] Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras Departamento de Cirugía Cardiovascular
  3. [3] Centro de Investigaciones Clínicas
  4. [4] Hospital salvador Allende Instituto de Angiología y Cirugía Vascular
  5. [5] Instituto de Investigaciones Porcinas

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• Localización: Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, ISSN-e 0717-3458, Vol. 7, Nº. 3, 2004, págs. 8-9
• Idioma: inglés
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  • Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an endothelial cell-specific mitogen that is angiogenic in vitro and in vivo. Several studies report on gene transfer of VEGF121 to promote angiogenesis in the ischemic myocardium of animals and patients. We hypothesized that intramyocardial administration of naked plasmid DNA encoding VEGF121 could improve myocardial perfusion and function in a porcine model of myocardial ischemia. Yorkshire swine underwent thoracotomy and placement of an ameroid constrictor on the circumflex coronary artery. Four weeks later, pVEGF121 plasmid was administered into the ischemic myocardium. Four weeks after gene transfer, SPECT imaging demonstrated significant reduction in the ischemic area in pVEGF121-treated animals compared with controls. In the pVEGF121 group, most of the animals evolved from light ischemia to a normal perfusion. In contrast, control animals exhibited similar or impaired ischemic conditions. Our results indicate that intramyocardial gene transfer of VEGF121 as naked plasmid DNA results in significant improvement in myocardial perfusion and function.