AimTo investigate the expressions of protein kinase B (Akt) and stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) and their relations with circulating blood endothelial progenitor cell homing after myocardial infarction (MI).MethodsMI was induced in the Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by left anterior descending artery ligation.Akt inhibitor or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was injected into an ischemic zone. At 1, 7, 14 and 28 days post-MI, the expression of Akt and SDF-1 in the infarcted hearts were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Circulating blood endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) or ischemic myocardial EPCs was evaluated by flow cytometry analysis (FACS) or immunohistochemistry (IH).The number of vessels was examined by IH.ResultsELISA showed that the expression levels of Akt and SDF-1 increased gradually during the early stages of acute ischemia, and reached the highest levels by 14 days post-MI.Similar to the response of Akt and SDF-1 to myocardial ischemia, FACS and IH revealed the same changes of circulating blood EPCs or myocardial EPCs, and blood vessel counting displayed the same dynamic changes.The changes of these observed indices were markedly blocked by Akt inhibitor, which showed no significant difference between all the individual time-points after MI.ConclusionIschemic myocardiocytes post-MI may regulate homing of circulating blood EPCs, survival of stem cells, and angiogenesis of the infarcted hearts by Akt-SDF-1 signal pathway.