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Evaluation of the effects of intramyocardial injection of DNA expressing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in a myocardial infarction model in the rat—angiogenesis and angioma formation

Ernst R. Schwarz, MD^* , Mark T. Speakman, MD^* , Mike Patterson, PhD^*, Sharon S. Hale, BS^*, Jeffrey M. Isner, MD, Laurence H. Kedes, MD and Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD^*

^* Heart Institute Research, Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, California, USA
Division of Cardiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Division of Cardiovascular Research, St. Elisabeth’s Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

View larger version (74K): [in a new window]   Figure 1 (A) Rat heart with infarct (white scar) four weeks after injection of plasmid for phVEGF165. Note prominent red angiomatous structure on the anterior surface of the scar (arrow). (B) Rat heart with infarct four weeks after injection of saline. A few threadlike adhesions are present near site of saline injection (two lower sutures) but no angioma.

View larger version (121K): [in a new window]   Figure 2 (A) Hematoxylin-eosin staining of cross section of rat infarct scar from a control heart after eight weeks. Most of the anterior free wall is replaced with fibrous tissue. There are a few islands of viable myocytes in the subepicardium and around vessels in the subepicardium. The LV cavity is at the lower left. (B) phVEGF165 treated scar. The infarct is at the lower left (same orientation as ([A]). There is a broad-based mass protruding from the surface of the scar that contains numerous vascular structures as well as fibrous tissue.

View larger version (158K): [in a new window]   Figure 3 Various sized new blood vessels within angiomatous structure of phVEGF165-treated animal. The cells are primarily composed of a few endothelial cells forming a ring.