Improvement of cardiac function by hepatocyte growth factor via intracoronary transfection in the swine myocardial infarction model

Objective： To study the amelioration effect of AdenovirusS-mediated human hepatocyte growth factor （AdsHGF） on postinfarction heart failure in the swine myocardial infarction model. Methods： Twelve SuZhong young swine were randomly divided into 2 groups with 6 swine in each group： Ad5-HGF-treated group and null-Ad5 group. Four weeks after ligation at left anterior descending coronary artery in swine hearts, Ad5-HGF was transferred to the swine myocardium. Simultaneously, Gated myocardial perfusion imaging was performed to evaluate cardiac perfusion and heart function. After three weeks, Gated myocardial perfusion imaging was performed again, then the hearts were harvested and sectioned to examine the expression of HGF through ELISA. Results： High expression of human HGF was observed in the myocardium of Ad5-HGF-treated group. From 4 weeks to 7 weeks after operation, Left ventricular ejection fraction was increased in Ad5-HGF-treated group. The improvement in LVEF was greater in Ad5-HGF-treated group than that in null-Ad5 group at 7 weeks after operation. Cardiac perfusion was significantly improved in the Ad5-HGF-treated group. Conclusion： High expression of human HGF was observed in the myocardium through intracoronary transfection, which suggests that HGF can ameliorate heart function in swine with postinfarction heart failure.