These in vitro data was the basis to pre-clinical test of the intracoronary injection of small amounts of IGF-1 and HGF (a single dose ranging from 0.5 to 2 μg HGF and 2 to 8 μg IGF-1) to pigs subjected to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) by transient coronary occlusion. Here, HGF is linked to myocardial infarction.