c-Kit–Positive Cardiac Stem Cells Nested in Hypoxic Niches Are Activated by Stem Cell Factor Reversing the Aging Myopathy

Abstract

Our findings support the notion that strategies targeting CSC activation and growth interfere with the manifestations of myocardial aging in an animal model. Although caution has to be exercised in the translation of animal studies to human beings, our data strongly suggest that a pool of functionally competent CSCs persists in the senescent heart and that this stem cell compartment can promote myocyte regeneration effectively, partly correcting the aging myopathy.