Cellular cardiomyoplasty: its past, present, and future.

Cellular cardiomyoplasty is a cell therapy using stem cells or progenitor cells for myocardial regeneration to improve cardiac function and mitigate heart failure. Since we first published cellular cardiomyoplasty in 1989, this procedure became the innovative method to treat damaged myocardium other than heart transplantation. A significant improvement in cardiac function, metabolism, and perfusion is generally observed in experimental and clinical studies, but the improvement is mild and incomplete. Although safety, feasibility, and efficacy have been well documented for the procedure, the beneficial mechanisms remain unclear and optimization of the procedure requires further study. This chapter briefly reviews the stem cells used for cellular cardiomyoplasty and their clinical outcomes with possible improvements in future studies.

Skeletal muscle stem cells.

Skeletal muscle satellite cells (myoblasts) are the primary stem cells of skeletal muscle which contribute to growth, maintenance, and repair of the muscles. Satellite cells are the first stem cells used for cellular cardiomyoplasty more than 20 years ago. The isolation, culture, labeling, and identification of satellite cells are described in detail here. The implantation and outcomes of cellular cardiomyoplasty using satellite cells have been summarized in the previous chapter (Chapter 1).