Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2c
The Technologies for Stem Cell
Expansion and Differentiation
Daisuke Sasaki
Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science,
Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan
dsasaki@abmes.twmu.ac.jp
2c.1
Introduction
How many cardiomyocytes are required to artificially create
cardiac tissue that can mechanically support the deteriorated
cardiac contractility of a failing heart? The human left ventricle
contains several billions of cardiomyocytes [1], and it is estimated
that about a billion cardiomyocytes are lost in a typical myocardial
infarction [2]. In the case of cardiomyopathy, the contractility of
cardiomyocytes becomes deteriorated and many cells result in the
apoptosis. From these facts, it seems that preferably more than a
billion cardiomyocytes are necessary to substantially support the
contractility of a failing heart. Then, how can such a large number of
cardiomyocytes be prepared? Among human cell types, it has been
