Key result
The hypoxic microenvironment in the adult mammalian epicardium and subepicardium maintains cardiac progenitor cells in a glycolytic undifferentiated state via Hif-1α signaling.
The review highlights the critical role of the hypoxic microenvironment and Hif-1α-mediated glycolysis in maintaining cardiac progenitor cells in an undifferentiated state within the epicardial niche.
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May guide cardiac regeneration research; leaves open whether epicardial niche targeting improves clinical outcomes.
Resident stem cells persist throughout the entire lifetime of an organism where they replenishing damaged cells. Numerous types of resident stem cells are housed in a low-oxygen tension (hypoxic) microenvironment, or niches, which seem to be critical for survival and maintenance of stem cells. Recently our group has identified the adult mammalian epicardium and subepicardium as a hypoxic niche for cardiac progenitor cells. Similar to hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs), progenitor cells in the hypoxic epicardial niche utilize cytoplasmic glycolysis instead of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, where hypoxia inducible factor 1α (Hif-1α) maintains them in glycolytic undifferentiated state. In this review we summarize the relationship between hypoxic signaling and stem cell function, and discuss potential roles of several cardiac stem/progenitor cells in cardiac homeostasis and regeneration.
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Kimura et al. (2012) conducted a review in Cardiac homeostasis and regeneration. Hypoxic microenvironment was evaluated. The hypoxic microenvironment in the adult mammalian epicardium and subepicardium maintains cardiac progenitor cells in a glycolytic undifferentiated state via Hif-1α signaling.
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