Return to search

Differentiation and migration of Sca-1+/CD 31-cardiac side population cells in a mouse infarction model

Myocardial infarction is the most common cause of heart failure and remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in humans. Stem cells are important in the maintenance and repair of adult tissues. Hoechst effluxing cells, termed side population cells are a rare subset of cells found in adult tissues that are highly enriched for stem and progenitor cell activity. Recent studies have suggested that Sca-1+/CD31- cardiac side population cells are capable of differentiation into cardiomyocytes in vitro. However, the response of cardiac side population cells to myocardial injury remains unknown in vivo. In this study, we directly transplanted Sca-1+/CD31- cardiac side population cells into an acutely infarcted mouse heart. After two weeks, the transplanted cells were found to express cardiomyocyte or endothelial cell markers. Importantly, when these cells were transplanted into a remote nonischemic part of the heart after MI, they were able to migrate to the damaged myocardium. Consistent with these cells homing property, we found that SDF-1α, a chemotactic chemokine and its receptor, CXCR4 were up-regulated in the damaged myocardium and on Sca-1+/CD31- cardiac SP cells respectively following an acute myocardial infarction. We further showed that SDF-1α was able to induce migration of Sca-1+/CD31- cardiac side population cells in vitro. Our results have therefore suggested that Sca-1+/CD31- cardiac side population cells are able to migrate to damaged myocardium from non-ischemic myocardium and differentiate into cardiomyocytes as well as endothelial cells in the acutely infarcted mouse heart. We postulate that the SDF-1α/CXCR4 interaction may play an important role in the migration of these cells. Understanding and enhancing these processes may hold enormous potential possibilities for therapeutic myocardial regeneration for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258148
Date January 2009
CreatorsTan, Yew Liang Terence, Clinical School - St George Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW
PublisherPublisher:University of New South Wales. Clinical School - St George Hospital
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Rightshttp://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright

Page generated in 0.0015 seconds