Small molecules that promote regenerative repair for pancreatic and cardiovascular health

Regenerative medicine for repair of organ injury is an emerging area of research. The use of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent cells in combination with endogenously expressed growth factors has provided methods to generate differentiated cells for cell-based therapy and for screening purposes. As cell-based therapies continue to be investigated in the clinical setting, small molecules for in situ tissue repair are being reported. In this review, we focus on the reports applicable to the field of cardiovascular and metabolic disease by discussing small molecules that target β-cells, cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells.