Heart failure: Can adult stem cells repair the damage?

The heart is unable to recover fully from myocardial infarction, the tissue damage caused when blood flow is interrupted. But now Orlic et al. demonstrate that adult haemopoietic stem cells have the potential to repair both the structure and function of the failing heart. Transplantation of bone marrow cells into infarcted tissue in a mouse model of coronary artery disease regenerates dead myocardium, increasing cardiac muscle mass and improving cardiac function.

The prospects of regenerative medicine of this type, and other revolutionary techniques are discussed in the News Feature pages.

Bone marrow cells regenerate infarcted myocardium
DONALD ORLIC, JAN KAJSTURA, STEFANO CHIMENTI, IGOR JAKONIUK, STACIE M. ANDERSON, BAOSHENG LI, JAMES PICKEL, RONALD MCKAY, BERNARDO NADAL-GINARD, DAVID M. BODINE, ANNAROSA LERI & PIERO ANVERSA
Nature 410, 701-705 (5 April 2001)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (498 K) |

Cardiovascular biology: Hearts and bones
MARK SUSSMAN
The idea of repairing damaged heart tissue with donated cells is an old one, but finding cells that can do the job has been frustrating. The solution may come from a select group of bone marrow cells.
Nature 410, 640-641 (5 April 2001)
| Full Text | PDF (260 K) |

Can they rebuild us?
PETER ALDHOUS
The idea of therapeutic cloning, which offers the potential of growing replacement tissues perfectly matched to their recipients, is falling from favour. But there are alternatives, as Peter Aldhous found out.
Nature 410, 622-625 (5 April 2001)
| Full Text | PDF (904 K) |

5 April 2001 table of contents