Cell transplantation promises restoration of cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI). Comparison of intracoronary cell transplantation with skeletal myoblasts (SMs) versus bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) was carried out in rabbits with MI induced by ligation of the left anterior descending artery. The infarction-affected artery was injected with SMs, BM-MSCs or cell-free medium (control) 24 h post-infarction (n = 15 per group). At baseline, there were no differences in cardiac parameters between the groups. At 4 weeks post-transplantation, left ventricular ejection fraction significantly improved and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was significantly decreased in the cell-treated groups compared with pre-transplantation and the control group. Engrafted cells were found in all of the cell-treated rabbits. The cell-treated animals had significantly higher numbers of neovessels compared with the control. No significant difference was seen between the SM and BM-MSC groups. In conclusion, intra-coronary transplantation of SMs and BM-MSCs induced neoangiogenesis with comparable enhancements of cardiac performance and reduced cardiac remodelling in a rabbit MI model.