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CARDIOVASCULAR GENOMIC MEDICINE: VIEWPOINT AND COMMENTARY

Cardiac Regeneration

Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.

Manuscript received April 13, 2005; revised manuscript received July 7, 2005, accepted July 11, 2005.

^_* Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Piero Anversa, Cardiovascular Research Institute, New York Medical College, Vosburgh Pavilion, Room 303, Valhalla, New York 10595 (Email: piero_anversa{at}nymc.edu).

The role and even the existence of new myocyte formation in the adult heart remain controversial. Documentation of cell cycle regulators, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, and mitotic images has only in part modified the view that myocardial growth can be accomplished exclusively from hypertrophy of an irreplaceable population of differentiated myocytes. However, myocyte regeneration and death occur physiologically, and these cellular processes are enhanced in pathologic states. These observations have challenged the view of the heart as a postmitotic organ and have proposed a new paradigm in which parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells are continuously replaced by newly formed younger populations of myocytes as well as by vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells. Heart homeostasis is regulated by a stem cell compartment characterized by multipotent cardiac stem cells that possess the ability to acquire the distinct cell lineages of the myocardium. Similarly, adult bone marrow cells are able to differentiate into cells beyond their own tissue boundary and create cardiomyocytes and coronary vessels. This process has been termed developmental plasticity or transdifferentiation. Because of these properties, bone marrow cells and cardiac stem cells have been employed experimentally in the reconstitution of dead myocardium after infarction. These cell classes hold promise for the treatment of heart failure in humans.

Abbreviations and Acronyms   BMC = bone marrow cell   CSC = cardiac stem cell   EGFP = enhanced green fluorescent protein   GFP = green fluorescent protein

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