Pulsed focused ultrasound enhances mesenchymal stem cell homing to skeletal muscle in a murine model of muscular dystrophy and homing was suppressed by Ibuprofen

Background/introduction Homing of iv-infused stem cells to diseased tissues may be critical for cell therapies and is frequently an obstacle to successful cell therapy. We have previously shown that molecular responses from the mechanotransduction effects of pulsed focused ultrasound (pFUS) in normal murine skeletal muscle generate a “molecular zip-code” consisting of local increases in chemoattractants (cytokines, chemokines, cell adhesion molecules) that induced MSC homing, potentially improving cellular therapies for regenerative medicine. This study investigated whether pFUS could also enhance MSC homing to dystrophic skeletal muscle in a muscular dystrophy (MD) mouse model. Stem cell therapies for MD are promising, but have been hampered by poor cell homing and the need for direct injections that are invasive and ultimately, impractical clinically. Since molecular signals drive cell homing following iv injection, drugs used to treat MD could potentially interfere with pFUSenhanced homing and undermine cell therapies for MD.