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Heart may be home to its own stem cells
New Scientist ^ | 5/29/2006 | Anna Gosline

Posted on 05/30/2006 8:11:37 AM PDT by Neville72

A team of US researchers has discovered the “home” of stem cells in the heart, lending credence to the idea that the heart has the capacity to repair itself. The finding raises the possibility that these cardiac stem cells could one day be manipulated to rebuild tissues damaged by heart disease – still the leading cause of death in the US and UK.

Because fully developed heart cells do not divide, experts have believed the organ was unable to regenerate after injury. But, in 2003, researchers at Piero Anversa’s laboratory at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York, US, discovered stem cells in the hearts of mice, and subsequently humans. However, they still did not know whether these stem cells actually resided in the heart or had merely migrated there from another tissue, such as bone marrow.

So Anversa’s colleague Annarosa Leri began to look for tell-tale “niches” of stem cells in the heart, such as a cluster of undifferentiated cells paired with the requisite “nurse” cells – vital for stem cell growth and development.

Using adult mice as a model, she located cardiac stem cell niches, which were especially abundant in the heart's atria. She found the stem cells clustered together with more mature heart cells in niches between cardiac muscle cells.

Ultimate goal

Leri and her colleagues have now removed tiny numbers of cardiac stem cells from people undergoing heart operations, grown them in the lab and then transplanted them into the damaged hearts of rats and mice.

The results are promising, says Leri, and may eventually give better heart-healing results than bone-marrow derived stem cells. “We think that these are the cells that normally provide new heart tissue and will most likely be better suited for repair of diseased hearts,” she says.

But the ultimate goal is to understand how cardiac stem cells really work, says Stephen Minger, director of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at King’s College London, UK, who was not involved in the research.

“If these cells truly do exist we would like to be able to find out what regulates their activity and whether you can simulate that mechanism to repair heart tissue without having to use cells from elsewhere,” he says.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0600635103)


TOPICS: News/Current Events
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1 posted on 05/30/2006 8:11:39 AM PDT by Neville72
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To: Neville72

good stuff! I'm all for stem-cell research, as long as it's not at the expense of human life.

My cousin has MS and gave birth to a baby girl a couple of years ago. My aunt and uncle paid to have the umbilical cord cryogenically frozen to preserve the stem cells, in case the child grows up to have MS and if stem cell research could help fight it in the future, in any way. They said it was only about $95/year to store...not bad I'd say.


2 posted on 05/30/2006 8:18:54 AM PDT by Zeppelin (Texas Longhorns === National Champions)
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To: Neville72; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; ...


3 posted on 05/30/2006 6:11:21 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)
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The stem cells were discovered clustered together with more mature heart cells in niches between cardiac muscle cells

4 posted on 05/30/2006 6:17:56 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)
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To: Zeppelin

Why not? Pretty smart, I'd say.


5 posted on 05/30/2006 6:24:47 PM PDT by T Minus Four (Laughing out loud, out loud, out loud, out loud, out loud!!)
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To: Neville72; Coleus; Peach; airborne; Asphalt; Dr. Scarpetta; I'm ALL Right!; MHGinTN; ...
If you do an author search at the PNAS website, you do it this way: Leri, A

Leri has nine complete, linked articles there on the heart and regeneration. If you find the biology interesting, check the titles and abstracts. My guess is that all of PNAS's articles are free except the newest which require a subscription.

The article of this thread had not been posted by PNAS at the time I looked. I've noticed that sometimes they are discussed in the popular press before they are listed here. Please note that those in blue at the last link are freebies.

6 posted on 05/30/2006 11:37:00 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: MHGinTN; Coleus; nickcarraway; narses; Mr. Silverback; Canticle_of_Deborah; ...
Only one inaccuracy jumps out at first glance: "heart disease – still the leading cause of death in the US and UK."

Induced Abortion: The Number One Cause of Death In The United States.

According to the US Center for Disease Control the leading causes of death in the US in 2002 were:
Abortion 1,290,000
Heart disease 710,760
Cancer 553,091
Stroke 167,661
Chronic lower respiratory tract disease 122,009
Accidents 97,900.

AIDS was not even in the top 10 causes with 17,544 reported deaths.

If induced abortions were reduced by 50% the savings of lives would be greater than finding a cure for all cancer.

Approximately 1 of every 4 pregnancies in the US is ended by surgical abortion.

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

7 posted on 05/30/2006 11:55:39 PM PDT by cpforlife.org (A Catholic Respect Life Curriculum is available at KnightsForLife.org)
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To: neverdem; Neville72

Glad to hear about this research.


8 posted on 06/11/2006 5:55:58 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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