Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2a
Variety of Cell Sources
Katsuhisa Matsuura
Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science,
Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan
kmatsuura@abmes.twmu.ac.jp
2a.1 Introduction
There are great expectations that cell transplant therapy using
various types of stem cells will serve as the next-generation therapy
for systemic disorders as well as cardiovascular diseases through
the regeneration of diseased organs. Both small-animal studies and
clinical studies have provided evidence that this therapy is effective
in ameliorating cardiac dysfunction in acute myocardial infarction
and chronic ischemic heart diseases. So, how does cell transplant
therapy work? It was initially thought that the improvement shown
occurred via direct repopulation of the heart by transplanted cell-
driven cellular constituents, such as cardiomyocytes and vascular
endothelial cells [1]. However, this is not now considered to be a
major mechanism, given that only a small proportion of transplanted
cells differentiate into cardiomyocytes [2] and that cell fusion is
involved in differentiation into cardiomyocytes [3]. An alternative
