Activation of Cardiac Stem Cells in Myocardial Infarction

The development of heart failure caused by acute myocardial infarction is accompanied by massive necrotic death of cardiomyocytes in lesion areas and subsequent pathological myocardial remodeling. Traditionally, the possibility of heart reparation has been considered to be severely limited or absent in the postnatal period. Endogenous cardiac stem cells with a regenerative potential have recently been described, but the mechanisms of activation of these cells remain poorly understood. The aim of our work was to obtain cardiac stem cells from the ischemic area of the myocardium and compare their functional properties with stem cells isolated from the healthy area of the myocardium. RT-PCR was used to quantify the gene expression in cardiac stem cells. In addition, differentiated cells were stained for specific markers using immunocytochemical method. Cardiac stem cells originating from the infarction area had a higher proliferative potential and a greater propensity to migrate in comparison to the cells originated from a healthy myocardial area. The expression level of several specific markers of cardiogenic, osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation upon induction of corresponding differentiation was higher in the cells from the infarction area than in cells from the healthy myocardium. We conclude that myocardial ischemia activates the internal regenerative potential of cardiac stem cells.