Repair of Infarcted Myocardium by an Extract of Geum japonicum with Dual Effects on Angiogenesis and Myogenesis

BACKGROUND: It has become apparent recently that cardiac myocytes can divide after myocardial infarction, a circumstance that challenges the orthodox view that myocytes may be terminally differentiated. Replacement of the necrosed heart tissue by newly regenerated functional myocardium is a therapeutic ideal, but attempts to reconstitute functional myocardia and coronary vessels have been less successful. METHODS: We isolated a fraction containing 5 compounds from the Chinese herb Geum japonicum, which stimulates the processes of angiogenesis and cardiomyogenesis. We investigated these dual properties in both ex vivo and in vivo systems. RESULTS: We observed that this bioactive fraction displayed favorable dual actions on early angiogenesis and cardiomyogenesis in acute myocardial infarction in an animal model. Our results demonstrated that application of this bioactive fraction showed pronounced effects on limiting infarct size by 35%-45%, stimulating early development of new blood vessels in 24 h, and regenerating myocardium, replacing approximately 49% of the total infarction volume after 2 weeks. Echocardiographic studies demonstrated marked improvement of left ventricular function within 2 days after infarction, and the improvement was sustained for >1 month. CONCLUSIONS: The properties of this bioactive fraction appear to be entirely novel and represent a new approach for the treatment of ischemic heart disease.