Stem cell therapy has obtained extensive consensus to be an effective method for post myocardial infarction (MI) intervention. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are able to differentiate into multiple cell types, have the potential to generate cardiovascular lineage cells for myocardial repair after ischemic damage, but their poor retention rate significantly hinders the therapeutic efficacy. In the present study, we developed a supramolecular hydrogel which is formed by the self-assembly of folic acid (FA)-modified peptide via a biocompatible method (glutathione reduction) and suitable for cell encapsulation and transplantation. The iPS cells labeled with CM-Dil were transplanted into the MI hearts of mice with or without FA hydrogel encapsulation. The results corroborated that the FA hydrogel significantly improved the retention and survival of iPS cells in MI hearts post injection, leading to augmentation of the therapeutic efficacy of iPS cells including better cardiac function and much less adverse heart remodeling, by subsequent differentiation toward cardiac cells and stimulation of neovascularization. This study reported a novel supramolecular hydrogel based on FA–peptides capable of improving the therapeutic capacity of iPS cells, which held big potential in the treatment of MI.

中文翻译：

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叶酸衍生的水凝胶增强了iPS细胞对急性心肌梗死的存活率并提高了治疗功效

干细胞疗法已获得广泛共识，是心肌梗死后（MI）干预的有效方法。能够分化为多种细胞类型的诱导性多能干（iPS）细胞有可能在缺血性损伤后产生用于心血管修复的心血管谱系细胞，但其滞留率差会显着阻碍治疗效果。在本研究中，我们开发了一种超分子水凝胶，它是通过叶酸（FA）修饰的肽通过生物相容性方法（谷胱甘肽还原）自组装而形成的，并且适用于细胞封装和移植。将带有CM-Dil标记的iPS细胞移植到有或没有FA水凝胶封装的小鼠的MI心脏中。结果证实了FA水凝胶可显着改善注射后MI心脏中iPS细胞的保留和存活率，从而通过随后向心肌细胞和心肌细胞的分化，增强iPS细胞的治疗功效，包括更好的心脏功能和更少的不良心脏重塑。刺激新血管形成。这项研究报告了一种基于FA肽的新型超分子水凝胶，能够改善iPS细胞的治疗能力，在治疗MI方面具有巨大潜力。