Cell Transplantation: Back to the Bench: Introduction

摘要

Cell transplantation was developed to provide a new, alternative treatment for congestive heart failure after a myocardial infarction. The accompanying series of papers provide authoritative essays on the concepts, current approaches, and future directions for this novel therapy. This introduction will provide an overview of the insights we accumulated during the last decade as well as the challenges and potential solutions for the future of cell transplantation. Following a myocardial infarction, many patients develop progressive ventricular thinning and dilation. Cell transplantation was initially conceived as a method to repopulate and regenerate the injured myocardium. Since then, a variety of somatic and stem cells were implanted into damaged myocardium of the hearts of small and large animals after a myocardial infarction.