title: Mechanisms of cardiogenesis in cardiovascular progenitor cells.
abstract: Self-renewing cells of the vertebrate heart have become a major subject of interest in the past decade. However, many researchers had a hard time to argue against the orthodox textbook view that defines the heart as a postmitotic organ. Once the scientific community agreed on the existence of self-renewing cells in the vertebrate heart, their origin was again put on trial when transdifferentiation, dedifferentiation, and reprogramming could no longer be excluded as potential sources of self-renewal in the adult organ. Additionally, the presence of self-renewing pluripotent cells in the peripheral blood challenges the concept of tissue-specific stem and progenitor cells. Leaving these unsolved problems aside, it seems very desirable to learn about the basic biology of this unique cell type. Thus, we shall here paint a picture of cardiovascular progenitor cells including the current knowledge about their origin, basic nature, and the molecular mechanisms guiding proliferation and differentiation into somatic cells of the heart.
authors.affiliation: Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Jasmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taubenschmid
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weitzer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D055153:Stem Cell Niche / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*