Extracellular vesicles derived from different tissues attenuate cardiac dysfunction in murine MI models

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from various cell sources exert cardioprotective effects during cardiac ischemic injury. Our previous study confirmed that EVs derived from ischemic-reperfusion injured heart tissue aggravated cardiac inflammation and dysfunction. However, the role of EVs derived from normal cardiac tissue in myocardial ischemic injury remains elusive.

In the present study, normal heart-derived EVs (cEVs) and kidney-derived EVs (nEVs) were isolated and intramyocardially injected into mice after myocardial infarction (MI). We demonstrated that administration of both cEVs and nEVs significantly improved cardiac function, reduced the scar size, and alleviated inflammatory infiltration into the heart. In addition, cardiomyocyte apoptosis was inhibited, whereas angiogenesis was enhanced in the hearts receiving cEVs or nEVs treatment. Moreover, intramyocardial injection of cEVs displayed much better cardiac protective efficacy than nEVs in murine MI models. RNA-seq and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed the protective mRNA clusters in both cEVs and nEVs. These mRNAs were involved in multiple signaling pathways, which may synergistically orchestrate to prevent the heart from further damage post MI.

Collectively, our results indicated that EVs derived from normal heart tissue may represent a promising strategy for cardiac protection in ischemic heart diseases.