Regeneration of the Cardiac Conduction System by Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background Adipose tissue is one of the sources of mesenchymal stem cells, which have the potential to differentiate into various types of cells, including myocytes. Whether brown adipose tissue (BAT)-derived cells might differentiate into the cardiac pacemaking-conducting cells, and have the potential to regenerate the cardiac conduction system (CCS), is investigated in this study. Methods and results BAT was isolated from the interscapular area of mice and enzymatically digested before culture. Round or fusiform cells showed spontaneous beating at 4-7 days after culturing of BAT-derived cells. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis and immunocytochemical analysis revealed that BAT-derived cells expressed several cardiomyocytes, the CCS and pacemaker (PM) cell marker genes and proteins. Patch-clamp techniques revealed that spontaneous electrical activity and the shape of the action potential showed properties of cardiac PM cells. Next, a complete atrioventricular (AV) block was created in mice and green fluorescent protein-positive (GFP (+)) BAT-derived cells were injected intramyocardially around the AV node. At 1 week after transplantation, 50% of BAT-derived cells injected mice showed a sinus rhythm or a 2:1 AV block. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that injected GFP (+) cells were engrafted and some GFP (+) cells co-expressed several cardiac PM cell

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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