C-kit-positive cardiac stem cells and myocardial regeneration.

ABSTRACT: Two distinct subpopulations of endogenous cardiac stem cells (CSCs) are identified in the adult heart; myogenic CSCs (mCSCs), which are characterized by the presence of c-kit receptor, reside in the myocyte niche surrounded by matured cardiomyocytes, whereas vasculogenic CSCs (vCSCs), which express c-kit as well as KDR, are stored in the vascular niche found in the vessel wall. They both possess the fundamental properties of stem cells: self -renewing, clonogenic, and multipotent. While mCSCs preferentially differentiate into myocyte lineage in vitro, vCSCs tend to commit to vascular endothelial or smooth muscle lineages upon stimulation. Intramyocardial injection of human mCSCs to the region bordering infarct of immunosuppressed animals induces cardiac regeneration involving intensive mus

SUBMITTER: Hosoda T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3257153 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature