摘要
Background The survival ratio of implanted mesenchymal stem cells （MSCs） in the infarcted myocardium is low.Autophagy is a complex self-eating process and can be utilized for cell survival. We have found that atorvastatin （ATV）can effectively activate autophagy to enhance MSCs survival during hypoxia and serum deprivation （H/SD）. The mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase （MEK/ERK） pathway is a non-canonical autophagy pathway.We hypothesized that the MEK/ERK pathway mediated ATV-induced autophagy of MSCs under H/SD.
基金
This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （No. 81170129 and No. 81000091）, the China Health Medical Development Foundation （No. 2011-H25）, the Research Fund of Capital Medical Development （No. 2007-2018）, 863 Program of China （No. 2011AA020110）, and the Postgraduates＇ Innovative Research Foundation of Peking Union Medical College （2012-1002-31）.
