Objective To explore the influence of
vascular endothelial growth factor (
VEGF )
gene -transfected
bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on pulmonary alveolar structure and microvascular in
rats with
bronchopulmonary dysplasia .
Methods Bone marrow MSCs were isolated from SD
rats by way of
density gradient centrifugation ,purified,and transfected with pcDNA3.1 (-)/VEGF164 and blank
plasmid pcDNA3.1 respectively using the
liposome mediated
method .After placing
newborn SD
rats in the
oxygen box of 950 mL/L for 14 days,they were randomly divided into the transfected group(MSCs/
VEGF group),the
control group (MSCs group),and the blank group(serumfree medium group),with 10
rats in each group respectively,and they were injected respectively with 1 × 105 MSCs transfected by
VEGF ,MSCs and the same amount of simple
serum -free medium by
airway .After
transplantation for 1 week and 4 weeks,
lung tissue was observed by means of
hematoxylin eosin staining to study
lung structure and radial alveolar counts(RAC),and
VEGF protein expression and
angiogenesis densities were evaluated by
immunohistochemistry ,and finally VEGF164
protein was detected using
Western blot .Results After
transplantation for 1 week,4 weeks,the RAC,
VEGF expression,
vascular density by
immunohistochemistry in transfected group were significantly more than those in the
control group and the blank group(all P <0.05).After
transplantation for 1 week,4 weeks,the VEGF164
protein level in transfected group was significantly more than that in the
control group and the blank group (all P <0.05).Conclusions Eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1 (-)/VEGF164 can effectively be expressed in MSCs.
Transplantation of
vascular endothelial growth factor gene by means of transfected MSCs brings better improvement in pulmonary alveolar structure and microvascular
regeneration .
VEGF is closely related to
lung development in
newborn rats .