We studied the effect of erythropoietin on the morphofunctional status of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in patients with coronary heart disease. It was shown that the duration of cell exposure with erythropoietin had different effects on the expression levels of adhesion molecules, erythropoietin receptors, and co-expression of the erythropoietin receptor and common β-chain of cytokines, apoptosis/necrosis, and the cell cycle. In most cases, erythropoietin increased proliferation, migration, and NO production by "aged" mesenchymal stem cells (passage 8) and passage 4 mesenchymal stem cells grown during the previous 3 passages in the presence of 33.4 U/ml erythropoietin. Erythropoietin increased the expression of the autophagy marker LC3B in mesenchymal stem cells grown in the presence of erythropoietin in the culture medium. Thus, long-term culturing of mesenchymal stem cells in the presence of erythropoietin in the culture medium increased their resistance to adverse microenvironment factors - oxidative stress and hyperglycemia.
Keywords: LCB3; adhesion molecules; apoptosis; erythropoietin; mesenchymal stem cells.