Mesenchymal stromal cells are present in the heart and promote growth of adult stem cells in vitro

Background aims. For many years the human heart has been considered a terminally differentiated organ with no regenerative potential after injury. Recent studies, however, have cast doubt on this long-standing dogma. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of and characterize mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) in the adult mouse heart. The impact of MSC on growth and differentiation of adult cardiac stem cells (CSC) was also analyzed. Methods. A combination of lineage-negative/c-kit-negative (Lin