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Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2011 Jun 18;300(6):H2238-50. Epub 2011 Feb 18.

Sector of Medicine, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Liberta', 56127 Pisa, Italy.

The methods currently utilized to track stem cells by cardiac MRI are affected by important limitations, and new solutions are needed. We tested human ferritin heavy chain (hFTH) as a reporter gene for in vivo tracking of stem cells by cardiac MRI. Swine cardiac stem/progenitor cells were transduced with a lentiviral vector to overexpress hFTH and cultured to obtain cardiospheres (Cs). Read More

Basic Res Cardiol 2010 Nov 23;105(6):737-49. Epub 2010 Jul 23.

Department of Biotechnologies and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, p.za della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy.

Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs), migrating from heart tissue, in culture aggregate to form cardiospheres (CSs) in which replication and cardiogenic differentiation occur. However, the frequency of functional differentiation in CSs and the role of cell clustering in supporting it remain to be established. The aim of our study is to quantify differentiation of a muscle-type Ca(2+) release mechanism in CS-derived cells, correlate it with cardiac differentiation markers and test its dependency on CS formation. Read More

Stem Cell Res 2010 Jan 6;4(1):69-76. Epub 2009 Nov 6.

Karolinska Institute at Clinical Research Centre, Novum, Sweden.

The aims of this study were to systematically characterize the distribution, proliferation, and differentiation of Islet-1(+)(Isl1(+)) progenitor cells in the early first trimester human embryonic heart during which period most of the organogenesis takes place. In hearts of gestational week 5 to 10 Isl1(+)cells were identified and mainly clustered in the outflow tract and to a lesser extent in the atria and in the right ventricle. Some of the clusters were also troponin T(+). Read More

Stem Cells 2009 Jul;27(7):1571-81

Department of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Genetics, Odense University Hospital and Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Recent remarkable studies have reported that clonogenic putative cardiac stem cells (CSCs) with cardiomyogenic potential migrate from heart tissue biopsies during ex vivo culture, and that these CSCs self-organize into spontaneously beating cardiospheres (CSs). Such data have provided clear promise that injured heart tissue may be repaired by stem cell therapy using autologous CS-derived cells. By further examining CSs from the original CS protocol using immunofluorescence, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and microscopic analysis, we here report a more mundane result: that spontaneously beating CSs from neonatal rats likely consist of contaminating myocardial tissue fragments. Read More

J Cell Biochem 2008 Oct;105(2):612-23

Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, USA.

The regenerative inadequacy of the injured myocardium leads to adverse remodeling, cardiac dysfunction, and heart disease. Stem cell-replacement of damaged myocardium faces major challenges such as inappropriate differentiation, cellular uncoupling, scar formation, and accelerated apoptosis of transplanted cells. These challenges can be met by engineering an in vitro system for delivering stem cells capable of cardiac differentiation, tissue integration, and resistance to oxidative stress. Read More