胚胎干细胞治疗心肌梗死的研究进展

Progress on Embryonic Stem Cells for the Treatment of Myocardial Infarction

胚胎干细胞 (ES细胞 )是一种多能细胞 ,来源于囊胚期胚胎 ,具有很强的自我更新能力 ,并能分化成很多细胞类型。体外 ,ES细胞能自发聚集形成胚胎体 (EB) ,分化成许多种细胞类型 ;ES细胞注射到免疫缺陷的小鼠体内 ,产生畸胎瘤 ,其中包含有三个胚层的细胞。添加生长因子或与其它细胞共培养等方法可以促进ES细胞体外分化为心肌细胞 ,筛选后移植到梗死的心肌 ,可以提高心脏功能 。

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells derived from blastocyst-stage embryos. They are characterized by their capacity for self-renewal and by the ability to differentiate into a variety of cell types. In vitro, ES cells can spontaneously aggregate into the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) comprised of a range of differentiated cells. When injected into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, ES cells will induce the generation of teratomas, which include differentiated cells from three embryonic germ layers. We can induce the differentiation of ES cells into cardiocytes by treatment with several growth factors or co-culture with certain other cells. The pure differentiated cardiocytes from ES cells are then selected and implanted into the infarcted hearts. The hearts' function will be improved. ES cells implantation is a novel and potential method to treat infarcted hearts.