(Circulation. 2001;103:e9032.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cardiovascular News
Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cells Repair Hearts Damaged by Myocardial Infarction
Research teams from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Cardiovascular Research Institute of New York Medical College, in a stunning set of experiments, demonstrated that it is possible to repair heart attack–damaged hearts with an injection of adult mouse bone marrow stem cells. They showed that the injected cells become functioning heart muscle cells and at least partially restore the organ’s ability to pump blood (Nature. 2001;410:701–705).
Their findings, which were reported in the April 5, 2001 issue of the journal Nature, showed that the adult bone marrow stem cells in mice could be induced to become heart muscle cells rather than blood component cells, as might be expected. To identify the transplanted cells, the researchers, led by Donald Orlic, PhD, a staff scientist in the genetics and molecular biology branch of the Division of Intramural Research at the NHGRI, and Piero Anversa, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, marked isolated mouse bone marrow stem cells with a gene that produces a green fluorescent protein. To further insure that the transplanted cells could be differentiated from others, they decided to transplant stem cells from male mice into the hearts of female mice.
They initiated a heart attack in the female mice by typing a
suture around a coronary artery. A short time later, they injected the
gene-labeled stem cells into the heart muscle adjacent to the damaged
tissue. Over the next 7 to 11 days, the stem cells began