Objective To investigate the effect of combined delivery of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1) on the development of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) differentiation by expression of GATA-4，and to supply some evidence for clinical BMSCs transplantation therapy. Methods BMSCs were isolated from the femurs and tibias of the randomly assigned rabbits and cocultured with myocytes in a ratio of 1∶1. Myocytes were obtained from neonatal rabbits ventricles. 150 ng/ml HGF and 200 ng/ml IGF-1 were added into 4 culture bottles of 8 bottles and the other 4 bottles were not. After BMSCs were cocultured with myocytes for 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, and till 6 weeks， differentiated BMSCs were targeted and microdissected with a laser capture microdissection system, and then ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted and isolated. The differentiation of BMSCs in coculture was confirmed by immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). And expression of GATA-4 in BMSCs was detected by semiquantitative RT-PCR. Results Before coculturing, the BMSCs were negative for α-actinin and exhibited a nucleus with many nucleoli. After coculture with myocytes, some BMSCs became αactininpositive and showed a cardiomyocytelike ultrastructure, including sarcomeres, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. BMSCs cocultured with myocytes expressed cardiac transcription factor GATA-4. IGF-1 and HGF delivery can significantly increased expression of GATA-4 for the differentiated BMSCs as compared with cells of no delivery of HGF and IGF-1. The expression level of GATA-4 in captured BMSCs began to increase at the 1st day, reach the peak at the 2nd week and kept high expression level after the 2nd week. Conclusion BMSCs can transdifferentiate into cells with a cardiac phenotype when cocultured with myocytes. Differentiated myocytes express cardiac transcription factors GATA-4. Administration of HGF and IGF-1 promoted the development of BMSCs transdifferentiate into cardiac phenotype, which is associated with the increase in expression level of GATA-4.

Citation： LI Zhuo,GU Tianxiang,ZHANG Yuhai.. The Effect of Combined Delivery of Hepatocyte Growth Factor and Insulinlike Growth Factor1 on the Expression of GATA4 in Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 2009, 16(5): 368-373. doi: Copy