Aesthetic cardiology: adipose-derived stem cells for myocardial repair

Abstract

Stem cell biology has increasingly gained scientific and public interest in recent years. In particular, the use of stem cells for treatment of heart disease has been strongly pursued within the scientific and medical communities. Significant effort has gone into the use of adult tissue-derived stem cells for cardiac repair including bone marrow, blood, and cardiac-derived cell populations. Significant interest in this area has been balanced by the difficulties of understanding stem cells, cardiac injury, and the amalgamation of these areas of investigation in translational medicine. Recent studies have emerged on adipose-derived stem cells which show the potential for cardiac lineage development in vitro and may have application in cell-mediated in vivo therapy for the diseased heart. This review provides a summary of current findings within the field of adipose-derived stem cell biology regarding their cardiac differentiation potential.

Fig. (1)

Adipose derived stem cells may provide a mechanism of treating heart disease. Aesthetic cardiology provides a platform for reducing adiposity in obese patients while extracting stem cells useful for autologous cell transplantation in treatment of ischemic heart disease. Adapted with kind permission of Springer Science Business Media [120].

Fig. (2)

In vitro differentiation of adipose derived SVCs. (a) Phase-contrast microscope image of cultured SVCs after 5 (top), 10 (middle), and 15 (bottom) days of in vitro differentiation. (b) Expression profile of proteins identified in differentiated SVCs showing members of the cardiac thin filament. (c) Calcium transient measurements and contractile performance in differentiated SVCs during field stimulation. (d) Differentiation potential assessed during manipulation with recombinant Wnt proteins. (e) Identification of Sca1+ and c-kit+ stem cell markers associated with adipose-derived SVCs. Figure has been adapted with permission from the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology [19]. Abbreviations: SVCs: stromal vascular cells; T.A.: tibialis anterior; Dkk1: dickkopf homolog 1.

Fig. (3)

Advanced genetic engineering methods for assessing stem cell transplantation potential of SVCs in vivo. (a) Gene transfer of reporter or therapeutic genes into SVCs prior to transplantation into the injured heart. (b) Use of the conditional dual reporter mouse, Z/EG, for detection of donor stem cells in the host myocardium and further determination of intrinsic differentiation or cell fusion events. In the absence of Cre enzyme (host cardiomyocytes), LacZ is expressed in donor stem cells indicating no cell fusion. If cell fusion occurs, Cre (host cardiac myocytes) will recombine the Z/EG construct (donor stem cells) resulting in expression of EGFP. Adapted with kind permission of Springer Science Business Media [120].