Scientists at the University of Granada have become heart cells to transform adult stem cells from adipose tissue into cardiomyocytes
Spanish scientists have used for the first time adult cells from human heart to make stem cells from adipose tissue is becoming cardiomyocytes, according to the University of Granada (UGR). Specifically, they have managed to reprogram adult stem cells, which could have potential therapeutic implications for treating heart disease.
The use of stem cells for treatment of cardiomyopathy is one of the most used today, but work with them without first direct them to the heart tissue is fraught with many difficulties to be effective in such treatment.
Therefore, the induction of entry into the process of cardiomyocyte differentiation of these cells may be one of the best options for the treatment of such diseases.
To carry out this work, the researchers isolated adult human stem cells through liposuction. Then, patients were temporarily permeabilized and exposed to human atrial cell extract, after which the cells recovered in culture.
After 21 days in culture, the cells acquired a phenotype of cardiomyocytes, as demonstrated by morphological changes (appearance of binucleate cells that had fluted and branching fibers), detection by immunofluorescence of specific cardiac markers and the presence of related genes cardiomyocytes were analyzed by RT-PCR chain reaction of reverse transcription polymerase. The mesenchymal cells had been taken, therefore, a cardiac phenotype.
This work has been prepared by Macarena Peran, Juan A. Marchal, Elena Lopez, Manuel Jimenez-Navarro, Houria Boulaiz, Fernando Rodriguez-Serrano, Esmeralda Carrillo, Gema Sanchez-Espin, Eduardo de Teresa, David Tosh and Antonia Aranega, researchers at the University of Jaen, Universidad de Granada, Hospital Universitario Malaga and University of Bath (United Kingdom) and has been accepted for publication in the journal Cytotherapy.
The future projection of this technique would be the myocardial regeneration using a patient’s own cells, so their fat mesenchymal stem cells as the cells of heart tissue. However, scientists warn today that the investigation is in early stages and still far from a therapeutic application.
Currently, researchers are developing a new strategy to enter the cell extract in the target cell (the use of a micro-nozzle cell) that will allow them to obtain a greater number of viable differentiated cells, which are essential for utility clinic.
The next step will be to use animal models to validate the functionality of differentiated cells and finally had to perform clinical trials to assess the feasibility of the technique in humans.