Authors: John Dinger and Vincent S Gallicchio
Pediatric cardiomyopathies are a collection of diseases that deal with improper formation of the ventricular myocardium in infants and children. These cardiomyopathies are split into dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, and left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy; classified by the exact irregularity that is present. This analysis dives into the use of stem cells to help correct the abnormalities that occur. There are currently two methods utilizing stem cells with one being the creation of an in vitro model that replicates the problematic tissue and then using stem cells as a means of replacing the defective cells. The other method is finding animals with or generating animals with cardiomyopathies and then introducing stem cells into the organism. To date, in rat and pig models, mesenchymal stem cells derived from cord blood and bone marrow show immense promise as the results indicate increased cardiac efficiency. A decrease in cardiomyocyte apoptosis, an increase in left ventricular fraction shortening levels, and an increase in cardiac contractile function have been observed in these animal models. Mesenchymal stem cells have shown their massive capabilities in early animal models, however; more studies need to be conducted to transition to the next stage and eventually to human clinical trials. That being said, stem cells appear to be a viable solution to pediatric cardiomyopathies in the future.
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