Mechanical cell stretching may be an attractive strategy for the tissue engineering of
mechanically functional tissues. It has been demonstrated that cell growth and differentiation …

Most studies on stem cell transplantation therapy on myocardially infarcted animal models
and phase-I human clinical trials have focused on the use of undifferentiated stem cells …

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are pluripotent cells that differentiate into a variety of cells,
including cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells. However, little information is available …

Stem cell therapy can help repair damaged heart tissue. Yet many of the suitable cells
currently identified for human use are difficult to obtain and involve invasive procedures. In …

Defects in cardiac valve morphogenesis and septation of the heart chambers constitute
some of the most common human congenital abnormalities. Some of these defects originate …

Side population (SP) cells, which can be identified by their ability to exclude Hoechst 33342
dye, are one of the candidates for somatic stem cells. Although bone marrow SP cells are …

Myoblast transplantation for cardiac repair has generated beneficial results in both animals
and humans; however, poor viability and poor engraftment of myoblasts after implantation in …

We tested the cardiomyogenic potential of the human umbilical cord blood-derived
mesenchymal stem cells (UCBMSCs). Both the number and function of stem cells may be …

The evidence of cardiomyocyte proliferation in damaged heart implied cardiac regeneration
might occur by resident or extra cardiac stem cells. However, the specification and origin of …

A number of factors contribute to the control of stem cell fate. In particular, the evidence for
how physical forces control the stem cell differentiation program is now accruing. In this …