Stem Cells Train Heart Following Heart Attack
ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2007) — Injecting adult stem cells into a
heart following a heart attack (infarction) improves the heart
function and strengthens the heart wall. The use of such cells may
eventually reduce the chance of heart failure following a heart
attack.
Following a heart attack, part of the heart tissue dies. It is still
not possible to restore the scar tissue arising as a result of this.
The majority of stem cell researchers attempt to make new heart
muscle cells from stem cells. Liesbeth Winter of the Leiden
University Medical Center, however, was able to prove the concept of
using the embryonic potential of adult human cells to train the
heart: this cell therapy ensured that less tissue died and that the
remaining heart cells functioned better.
The PhD student used the 'Epicardium Derived Cell' or EPDC. This cell
plays a crucial role during embryonic heart development: the
embryonic EPDCs provide cells for the connective tissue skeleton of
the heart and for the walls of the coronary arteries. EPDCs also play
an important role in the formation of a thick, compact heart muscle
wall. Without EPDCs, the heart muscle would remain very thin and the
embryo would die.
Human cells stimulate mouse cells
Winter used adult human EPDCs that she extracted from the atrium of
the heart. She transplanted these cells to a mouse heart that had
suffered an infarction. The mice receiving these cells retained a
better heart function than mice without these cells, both in the
short term and in the longer term of several weeks. The human cells
also ensured that less mouse cells died off.
Two weeks following cell transplantation, the treated hearts
contained more blood vessels, the heart muscle cells exhibited an
increased activity of DNA damage repair, and the wall was thicker
where the infarct had occurred. These results suggest that EPDCs have
an almost instant stimulating effect on the surrounding heart tissue
following transplantation.
Researchers from Leiden University discovered this in a project
forming part of the Dutch Programme for Tissue Engineering, funded by
Technology Foundation STW and the Netherlands Organisation for Health
Research and Development (ZonMW). The Dutch Programme on Tissue
Engineering has been running since 2004. Prior to this, NWO,
Technology Foundation STW, and ZonMw had made 3 millions euros
available for a pilot programme in this area. The DPTE programme has
been funded to the tune of M€ 50. Half of the funding came from a
subsidy of M€ 25 obtained from the Dutch government's Bsik programme
(Grants for Investments in Knowledge Infrastructure)
Adapted from materials provided by Netherlands Organization for
Scientific Research.
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30). Stem Cells Train Heart Following Heart Attack. ScienceDaily.
Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.scienced
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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