Background: Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the causes of cardiovascular diseases that lead to death despite of the great advancements in the medical interventions.
Aim of the work: To assess the possible effect of mangosteen and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in Isoproterenol (ISO)-induced MI in adult male albino rats, monitored by histological and immunohistochemical methods.
Materials and Methods: Fifty-five adult male albino rats were divided into: control group (GI), group II (ISO), group III (Mangosteen+ISO), group IV (ISO+MSCs), group V (Mangosteen+Isoproterenol+MSCs). ISO was given subcutaneously, twice (250mg/kg/d), mangosteen was given orally (18mg/200gm) and MSCs (5x106 cells in 1mL of PBS) were injected intracardiac. Myocardial sections were stained with H&E, Masson's trichrome and immunohistochemical stain for caspase-3 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The mean area % of collagen fibers and immunoreactivity of caspase-3 and VEGF were measured by the image analyzer. The statistical analysis was applied by using ANOVA.
Results: Myocardial sections of G II revealed discontinuity and degeneration of cardiac muscle fibers, pyknotic nuclei, inflammatory cellular infiltration and congested blood vessels. There were increased collagen deposition and significant increase in caspase-3 immunoreactivity. Mangosteen administration (G III) showed partial improvement in cardiac muscle fibers and reduced inflammatory cellular infiltration.
MSCs treatment (G IV) resulted in obvious decline in myocardial damage, apoptosis with significant reduction of collagen deposition and significant increase in VEGF immunoreactivity. Better results are obtained when MSCs and mangosteen were combined (G V).
Conclusion: Mangosteen exerts a synergistic effect with MSCs against ISO-induced MI.