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Updated: May 7, 2026
Simultaneous Electrical and Mechanical Stimulation to Enhance Cells' Cardiomyogenic Potential
Published on: January 18, 2019
Cardiac stem cells with electrical stimulation improve ischaemic heart function through regulation of connective
Sun Wook Kim1, Ha Won Kim, Wei Huang
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology.
Aims:
In this study, we investigated whether pre-conditioning (PC) by electrical stimulation (EleS) induces cytoprotective effect on cardiac stem cells (CSCs) and determined its underlying molecular mechanisms.
Methods And Results:
Sca-1(+) CSCs were isolated from male C57BL6 mice (12 weeks) hearts. PC of CSCs with EleS ((EleS)CSCs) was carried out for 3 h at 1.5 V followed by exposure to 300 µM H2O2 for 5 h. Cytoprotective effects and cell adhesion ability were significantly increased by EleS as evaluated by transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay, and adhesion assay. EleS increased phosphorylation of AKT, focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK3β), as well as decreased caspase-3 cleavage. Interestingly, inhibition of AKT or FAK abolished the pro-survival effects of EleS. We found that connective tissue growth factor (Ctgf) was responsible for EleS-induced CSC survival and adhesion.The survival rate of (EleS)CSCs after transplantation in the infarcted myocardium was significantly increased together with improvement in cardiac function. Importantly, knockdown of Ctgf abolished EleS-induced cytoprotective effects and recovery of cardiac function. Furthermore, we identified miR-378 as a potential Ctgf regulator in (EleS)CSCs.
Conclusion:
EleS enhanced CSC survival in vitro and in vivo as well as functional recovery of the ischaemic heart through an AKT/FAK/CTGF signalling pathway. It is suggested that Ctgf and miR-378 are novel therapeutic targets for stem cell-based therapy.
