Emerging data in the field of cardiac development as well as repair and regeneration indicate a complex and important interplay between endocardial, epicardial, and myofibroblast populations that is critical for cardiomyocyte differentiation and postnatal function. For example, epicardial cells have been shown to generate cardiac myofibroblasts and may be one of the primary sources for this cel...

The heart was initially believed to be a terminally differentiated organ; once the cardiomyocytes died, no recovery could be made to replace the dead cells. However, around a decade ago, the concept of cardiac stem cells (CSCs) in adult hearts was proposed. CSCs differentiate into cardiomyocytes, keeping the heart functioning. Studies have proved the existence of stem cells in the heart. These ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS It is known that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can have variable responses to hypoxic conditions and that hypoxia may specifically stimulate differentiation into osteogenic, chondrogenic, or adipogenic cells. Based on our previous study, we hypothesized that hypoxia may also induce MSC differentiation into cardiomyocytes and/or cells with comparable phenotypes. METHODS The dif...

Although the involvement of caspases in cardiomyocyte death is widely accepted [reviewed in], increasing experimental evidence suggests that caspase activation is not relevant for post-mitotic cardiomyocyte cell death. Controversy also exists as to the mechanisms conferring cardioprotection by caspase inhibitors, which could be unrelated to apoptosis or target non-myocardial cells. In addition,...

Myocardial injury in mammals leads to heart failure through pathological cardiac remodelling that includes hypertrophy, fibrosis and ventricular dilatation. Central to this is inability of the mammalian cardiomyocyte to self-renew due to entering a quiescent state after birth. Modulation of the cardiomyocyte cell-cycle after injury is therefore a target mechanism to limit damage and potentiate ...

In recent years, significant progress has been made in understanding cardiomyocyte differentiation. However, little is known about the regulation of myocyte survival despite the fact that myocyte apoptosis is a leading cause of heart failure. Here we report that transcription factor GATA-4 is a survival factor for differentiated, postnatal cardiomyocytes and an upstream activator of the antiapo...