An overview of myoblast transplantation for myocardial regeneration

Regenerative medicine represents a new frontier in treatment of disease, particularly cardiovascular disease. The contractile elements of the heart, cardiomyocytes, lack the capacity for any postnatal proliferation or regeneration. Therefore, repair of heart damage can be achieved only by manipulating cardiomyocytes to regrow or by introducing exogenous cells with the capacity to restore function to the myocardium. Many attempts have been made with various cell types to repair the damaged myocardium. We will present here a summary of some of those studies and also present in detail studies utilizing a promising, near-term, and practical source of cells for treatment of heart disease: autologous skeletal myoblasts.