Stem cells--clinical application and perspectives.
BACKGROUND
Augmentation of myocardial performance in experimental models of therapeutic infarction and heart failure has been achieved by transplantation of exogenous cells into damaged myocardium. The quest for suitable donor cells has prompted research into the use of both embryonic stem cells and adult somatic stem cells.
Recently, there has been a growing body of evidence that multipotent somatic stem cells in adult bone marrow exhibit tremendous functional plasticity and can reprogram in a new environmental tissue niche to give rise to cell lineages specific for new organ site. This phenomenon has made huge impact on myocardial biology, while multipotent adult bone marrow hematopoeitic stem cells and mesechymal stem cells can repopulate infarcted rodent myocardium and differentiate into both cardiomyocytes and new blood vessels.


CONCLUSIONS
These data, coupled with the identification of a putative primitive cardiac stem cell population in the adult human heart, may open the way for novel therapeutic modalities for enhancing myocardial performance and treating heart failure.
Brehm
Michael
M
Internal Clinic B, Department of Cardiology, University of Duesseldorf, Germany. Brehmic@aol.com
Zeus
Tobias
T
Strauer
Bodo Eckehard
BE
D000328:Adult; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003331:Coronary Vessels; D004285:Dogs; D025401:Echocardiography, Stress; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000601:surgery; D019650:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D012106:Research; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D013997:Time Factors; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous