Validation of the cardiosphere method to culture cardiac progenitor cells from myocardial tissue

At least four laboratories have shown that endogenous cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) can be grown directly from adult heart tissue in primary culture, as cardiospheres or their progeny (cardiosphere-derived cells, CDCs). Indeed, CDCs are already being tested in a clinical trial for cardiac regeneration. Nevertheless, the validity of the cardiosphere strategy to generate CPCs has been called into question by reports based on variant

This study demonstrates that direct culture and expansion of CPCs from myocardial tissue is simple, straightforward, and reproducible when appropriate techniques are used.