Myogenic cells applications in regeneration of post-infarction cardiac tissue

Skeletal myoblasts (SMs) transplantations are the focus of intense investigation due to their therapeutic potential for cardiac repair. Heart diseases are the main problem in humans worldwide, resulting very often in death of patients. Consequently, investigators sought methods which could improve myocardial function in patients with cardiac failure. Stem cells therapy belongs to one of the highly promising and the most realistic methods of treating myocardial infarction. Despite the fact that many cell types were transplanted into damaged myocardium, autologous skeletal myoblasts seem to be the most encouraging cell source for myocardial repair due to their myogenic and contractile phenotype, biochemical and functional similarities to cardiac cells, high proliferative capacity in vitro and resistance to ischemia. Moreover, engrafted myoblasts could repopulate post-infarction scar and improve cardiac function. Unfortunately, transplanted SMs do not functionally or electrically integrate with the host myocardium, which could also cause ventricular arrhythmias, therefore, the use of these cells still remains a subject of intensive studies aiming at improvement of this therapeutic method. In this paper we recapitulate the current state of knowledge concerning the use of skeletal myoblasts in the treatment of post-infarction scar tissue, and discuss the problems resulting from their applications.