Paracrine Mechanisms Involved in Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation into Cardiomyocytes

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the world-wide healthcare problem that involves the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes myocardial infarction and coronary artery diseases (CAD). Dysfunctional myocardial cells are leading causes of low cardiac output or ventricular dysfunction after cardiac arrest and may contribute to the progression of CVD which could not generate new cardiomyocytes in human adult heart. The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which are present in adult marrow can self-renew and have the capacity of differentiation into multiple types of cells including cardiomyocytes. Recent biochemical analyses greatly revealed that several regulators of MSCs, such as HGF, PDGF, Wnt, and Notch-1 signaling pathways have been shown to be involved in the proliferation and differentiation into cardiomyocytes. Preclinical studies are paving the way for further applications of MSCs in the repair of myocardial infarction. In this study, we discuss and summarize the paracrine mechanisms involved in MSCs differentiation into cardiomyocytes.