In vitro promotion of SDF-1 on the migration and proliferation of C-kit⁺ cardiac stem cells in neonatal mice

The aim of this study was to explore the In Vitro effects of stromal-derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1 alpha) on the migration and proliferation of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells. The lentivirus containing SDF-1 alpha (LV-SDF-1 alpha) was constructed. Primary myocardial fibroblasts were transfected by LV-SDF-1 alpha, followed by primary culture of cardiac tissue cells and separation of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells with a flow cytometer, in order to investigate the effects of SDF-1 alpha on the migration and proliferation of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells using cell co-culture, immunofluorescence and EdU tracing technologies. The results showed that myocardial fibroblasts could secrete SDF-1 alpha after the transfection with LV-SDF1 alpha. High-purity c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells were obtained through flow cytometry sorting and the positive rate was about 40%. The c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells cultured In Vitro could be differentiated into cTnT positive cardiomyocyte-like cells. After co-culture of myocardial fibroblasts and c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells transfected with lentivirus, SDF-1 alpha might increase the migration of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells, but SDF-1 alpha did not promote the proliferation of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells. In conclusion, the myocardial fibroblasts transfected with lentivirus can highly express SDF-1 alpha, c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells can be differentiated into cTnT positive cardiomyocyte-like cells and SDF-1 alpha can effectively enhance the migration of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells but fails to stimulate the proliferation.