HGF and infarction: Although groups treated with HGF alone and BMSC alone had comparable LVEF improvements of 16.7 ± 5.4% (p < 0.001) and 12.9 ± 4.7% (p = 0.01) at 5 weeks after infarction, the combination of BMSCs and HGF produced a marked improvement in the ejection fraction of 24.5 ± 4.2% (p < 0.001) (Fig. 3B).