Embryonic stem cells coaxed into key heart cells

sumsung submitted, created time 8 months 2 weeks (www.sciam.com)

Scientists say they have coaxed human embryonic stem cells into becoming three of the major cell types in the human heart, and they improved cardiac function when transplanted into mice. The findings, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, showed that scientists can efficiently make different kinds of human heart cells for use in basic and clinical research. The researchers said that in the short term, they could be used to test how heart cells respond to different drugs. In the long term, the cells may be useful in developing new ways to repair damaged hearts following a heart attack.

Keywords: cardiomyocytes stem cell research organ transplants transplants heart progenitor cells heart attacks heart cells stem cells embryonic stem cells