title: The post-natal heart contains a myocardial stem cell population.
abstract: The recent identification of stem cell pools in a variety of unexpected tissue sources has raised the possibility that a pluripotent stem cell population may reside in the myocardium and contribute to the post-natal growth of this tissue. Here, we demonstrate that the post-natal myocardium contains a resident verapamil-sensitive side population (SP), with stem cell-like activity. When growth of the post-natal heart was attenuated through over-expression of a dominant negative cardiac transcription factor (MEF2C), the resident SP cell population was subject to activation, followed by a consequent depletion. In addition, cardiac SP cells are capable of fusion with other cell types, but do not adopt the corresponding gene expression profile. These observations suggest that a responsive stem cell pool resides in the adult myocardium, and may influence adaptation of the post-natal heart.
authors.affiliation: Ottawa Health Research Institute, Molecular Medicine Program and Centre for Stem Cell and Gene Therapy, University of Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrée M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hierlihy
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seale
authors.forename: Corrinne G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Lobe
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rudnicki
authors.forename: Lynn A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Megeney
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*