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First published online January 11, 2007
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2006-0497v1
25/4/911    most recent
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Submitted on August 8, 2006
Accepted on December 31, 2006

Tissue-Specific Stem Cells

Analysis of the origin and population dynamics of cardiac progenitor cells in a donor heart model

Tao-Sheng Li 1*, Ryo Suzuki 1, Kazuhiro Ueda 1, Tomoaki Murata 2, Kimikazu Hamano 1

1 Department of Surgery and Clinical Science,Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan
2 Institute of Laboratory Animals, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: litaoshe{at}yamaguchi-u.ac.jp.


  Abstract

Objectives: Cardiac progenitor (stem) cells have recently been detected in and isolated from the myocardium of neonatal and adult mice, rats, and humans; however, the precise origin and characterization of these cells remain unclear. Using a heterotopic mouse heart transplantation model, we investigated the origin and population dynamics of cardiac progenitor cells.

Methods: Donor hearts from wild-type C57/BL6 female mice were transplanted into GFP-transgenic C57/BL6 male mice. The donor hearts were collected 0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after transplantation. We used quantitative flow cytometry to analyze the number and origin of stem cells in the donor hearts and immunostaining to evaluate the time-related changes in their characteristics.

Results: Extra-cardiac GFP-positive stem cells immigrated into the donor hearts soon after transplantation. Immunostaining revealed that these GFP-positive stem cells in the donor hearts gradually lost expression of the hematopoietic markers of CD45 and CD34, and shifted to express the cardiac specific transcription factors, GATA-4 and NKx2.5. A few of the GFP-positive cells in the donor hearts finally acquired the mature cardiac phenotype in the absence of cell fusion with donor cardiomyocytes.

Conclusion: Our discovery provides the first evidence that extra-cardiac stem cells, may be of bone marrow origin, from which they can transform into cardiac progenitor cells in response to myocardial environment cues.

Key Words. heart, stem cell, bone marrow






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