The adult heart responds to increased workload with physiologic hypertrophy, cardiac stem cell activation, and new myocyte formation

Abstract

Intensity-controlled exercise training initiates myocardial remodelling through increased cardiomyocyte growth factor expression leading to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and to activation and ensuing differentiation of c-kit(pos) eCSCs. This leads to the generation of new myocardial cells. These findings highlight the endogenous regenerative capacity of the adult heart, represented by the eCSCs, and the fact that the physiological cardiac adaptation to exercise stress is a combination of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia (cardiomyocytes and capillaries).