C-kit expression identifies cardiovascular precursors in the neonatal heart.

ABSTRACT: Directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells indicates that mesodermal lineages in the mammalian heart (cardiac, endothelial, and smooth muscle cells) develop from a common, multipotent cardiovascular precursor. To isolate and characterize the lineage potential of a resident pool of cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPcs), we developed BAC transgenic mice in which enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) is placed under control of the c-kit locus (c-kit(BAC)-EGFP mice). Discrete c-kit-EGFP(+) cells were observed at different stages of differentiation in embryonic hearts, increasing in number to a maximum at about postnatal day (PN) 2; thereafter, EGFP(+) cells declined and were rarely observed in the adult heart. EGFP(+) cells purified from PN 0-5 hearts were nestin(+) and expanded in

SUBMITTER: Tallini YN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2644119 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature