Adult Stem Cells and Cardiac Regeneration

Abstract

There is worldwide demand for therapies to promote the robust repair and regeneration with maximum regain of function of particular tissues and organs damaged by disease or injury. The potential role of adult stem cells has been highlighted by an increasing number of in vitro and in vivo studies. Nowhere is this more evident than in adult stem cell-based therapies being explored to promote cardiac regeneration. In spite of encouraging advances, significant challenges remain.

Role of alpha‐ and beta‐adrenergic receptors in cardiomyocyte differentiation from murine‐induced pluripotent stem cells

“…Cardiovascular diseases are the most frequent cause of death in adults and main non‐infectious cause of death in children around the world. Due to the limited capacity of adult cardiomyocytes (CMs) to proliferate, cell losses of failing heart are irreversible and strategies for replacement of damaged cells by various types of exogenous cells are being developed . Patient‐specific origin of pluripotent iPSCs represents an attractive source of clinically useful CMs because it is easily accessible and expandable in culture, and has broad developmental potential and high capacity to reproducibly differentiate into spontaneously beating cardiac cells in vitro .…”

“…Taken together, these results suggest that α 1 -AR potentially permits the ini- are being developed. 38 Patient-specific origin of pluripotent iPSCs represents an attractive source of clinically useful CMs because it is easily accessible and expandable in culture, and has broad developmental potential and high capacity to reproducibly differentiate into spontaneously beating cardiac cells in vitro. 39 The major effort of many investigators in recent years has been to develop methods for enrichment of iPS cell-derived CMs in vitro in order to improve their yield, purity and safety.…”

Role of interleukin‐7 in fusion of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells with cardiomyocytes in vitro and improvement of cardiac function in vivo

“…Stem cell therapy, a new and rapidly emerging field, is now becoming a central focus for research and preclinical studies for cardiac repair. It has the potential to regenerate damaged myocardium and simultaneously stimulate endogenous cardiac repair . However, inadequate blood supply, pathologically modified extracellular matrix, presence of proapoptotic factors, and increased inflammation reduce the beneficial effect of stem cell therapy .…”

“…It has the potential to regenerate damaged myocardium and simultaneously stimulate endogenous cardiac repair. [3][4][5] However, inadequate blood supply, pathologically modified extracellular matrix, presence of proapoptotic factors, and increased inflammation reduce the beneficial effect of stem cell therapy. [6][7][8] To maintain survival of engrafted stem cells against the hypoxia-induced apoptosis, a number of strategies have been adopted including preconditioning of stem cells prior to their transplantation.…”

Endogenous Optical Signals Reveal Changes of Elastin and Collagen Organization During Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

“…To help address this, recent research has been focused on cell-based therapies for CVD, including the use of stem cells to regenerate cardiac cells. [2][3][4][5] Despite great promise for this approach, there are several major challenges that must be addressed before practical clinical application can be realized, including 1 the differentiation and maintenance of functional cardiomyocytes and 2 the delivery of cells for therapeutic application. An improved understanding of the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) may help address both of these challenges.…”