Main description:

Medical research made huge strides in treating heart disease in the 20th
century, from drug-eluding stents to automatic internal defibrillators. Public awareness of the dangers of heart disease has never been more pervasive. Now, though, ten years into a new millennium, scientists are gearing up for the next great challenges in tackling this pervasive condition. Cell therapy is going to be a key weapon in the fight against heart disease. It has the potential to address many cardiovascular conditions. From heart failure to atrioventricular nodal dysfunction, the young but promising field of cell therapy is set to play a significant role in developing the cures that the upcoming decades of hard work will yield.

Regenerating
the Heart: Stem Cells and the Cardiovascular System organizes the field
into a digestible body of knowledge. Its four sections cover mechanical
regeneration, electrical regeneration, cardiac tissues and in vivo stem cell
therapies. An array of talented researchers share the fruits of their labors,
with chapters covering such crucial issues as the cardiogenic potential of
varying stem cell types, the ways in which they might be used to tackle
arrhythmias, their possible application to biological replacements for cardiac
tissues such as valves, and the varying approaches used in the in vivo
evaluation of stem cell therapies, including methods of delivering stem cells
to the myocardium.

This
comprehensive survey of an area of research with such exciting potential is an
invaluable resource both for veteran stem cell researchers who need to monitor
fresh developments, and for newly minted investigators seeking inspirational
examples.

Contents:

1. Introduction, Glenn
R. Gaudette & Ira S. Cohen

Section 1: Stem Cells for Regeneration of Mechanical
Function

2. Inducing embryonic stem cells to become cardiac myocytes,
Alexander M. Becker, Michael Rubart and
Loren J. Field

3. Regenerating function in vivo with myocytes derived from
embryonic stem cells, Priya R. Baraniak and Todd C. McDevitt

4. Excitation-contraction coupling, functional properties,
autonomic and hormonal regulation in human embryonic stem cells-derived
cardiomyocytes, Oshra Sedan and Ofer Binah

5. Embryonic stem cell derivatives for cardiac therapy:
advantages, limitations and long term prospects, Michal Weiler-Sagie and Lior
Gepstein

6. Methods for Differentiation of Bone Marrow-Derived Stem
Cells into Myocytes, Shinji Makino and Keiichi Fukuda

7. Homing, Survival, and Paracrine Effects of Bone Marrow
Derived Stem Cells, Sergey Doronin

8. Bone marrow cell therapy after myocardial infarction:
What have we learned from the clinical trials and where are we going?, Kai C.
Wollert

9. Evidence for the existence of resident cardiac stem cells,
Isotta Chimenti, Roberto Gaetani, Lucio Barile, Elvira Forte, Vittoria Ionta,
Francesco Angelini, Elisa Messina and Alessandro Giacomello

10. Multiple sources for cardiac stem cells and their
cardiogenic potential, Antonio Paolo Beltrami, Daniela Cesselli, and Carlo
Alberto Beltrami

11. Skeletal muscle stem cells in the spotlight: the
satellite cell, Zipora Yablonka-Reuveni
and Kenneth Day

12. Regenerating Mechanical Function in vivo with Skeletal
Myoblasts, Todd K. Rosengart and Muath Bishawi

13. Methods for inducing pluripotentcy, Raymond L. Page,
Christopher Malcuit and Tanja Dominko

14. Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cells for Cardiac Regeneration,
Naama Zeevi-Levin and Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor

15. Induced Pluripotent Cells for Myocardial Infarction
Repair, Timothy J. Nelson and Andre Terzic

Section 2: Stem Cells for Regeneration of Electrical
Function

16. Substrates of cardiac Re-entrant Arrhythmias: the
Possible Role of Tissue Regeneration and Replacement, Andre G. Kleber

17. Integration of stem cell into the cardiac synsitium:
formation of gap junctions, Peter R. Brink, Ira S. Cohen and Richard T. Mathias

18. Bradyarrhythmia therapies: the creation of biological
pacemakers and restoring AV node function, Richard B. Robinson

19. Tachyarrhyhmias therapies: approaches to atrial
fibrillation and post-infarction ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation, J.
Kevin Donahue and Kenneth R. Laurita

20. Long term prospects for arrhythmia treatment: advantages
and limitations of gene and cell therapies, Michael R. Rosen

Section 3: Regenerating Cardiac Tissues

21. Regenerating Blood Vessels, Tracy A. Gwyther and Marsha
W. Rolle

22. Regenerating Heart Valves, Benedikt Weber and Simon P.
Hoerstrup

23. Tissue engineering strategies for cardiac regeneration, Amandine
F. G. Godier-Furnemont, Yi Duan, Robert Maidhof and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic

Section 4: Technial Issues for Stem Cell Therapy in the
Heart

24. Methods of Cell Delivery for Cardiac Repair, Sarah
Fernandes and Hans Reinecke

25. Tracking of stem cells in vivo, Yingli Fu and Dara L.
Kraitchman

26. Assessing Regional Mechanical Function after Stem Cell
Delivery, Jacques P. Guyette and Glenn R. Gaudette