Telocytes in human heart valves

Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Yang Yang²  Wei Sun²  Sean M. Wu¹  Junjie Xiao² 

[1] Cardiovascular Institute, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and regenerative Medicine, Stanford University of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA;Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

关键词: telocytes;    telopodes;    heart valves;    CD34;    C‐kit;    vimentin;    PDGF‐β;   

DOI  :  10.1111/jcmm.12285

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Valve interstitial cells (VICs) are responsible for maintaining the structural integrity and dynamic behaviour of the valve. Telocytes (TCs), a peculiar type of interstitial cells, have been recently identified by Popescu's group in epicardium, myocardium and endocardium (visit www.telocytes.com). The presence of TCs has been identified in atria, ventricles and many other tissues and organ, but not yet in heart valves. We used transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence methods (double labelling for CD34 and c-kit, or vimentin, or PDGF Receptor-β) to provide evidence for the existence of TCs in human heart valves, including mitral valve, tricuspid valve and aortic valve. TCs are found in both apex and base of heart valves, with a similar density of 27–28 cells/mm² in mitral valve, tricuspid valve and aortic valve. Since TCs are known for the participation in regeneration or repair biological processes, it remains to be determined how TCs contributes to the valve attempts to re-establish normal structure and function following injury, especially a complex junction was found between TCs and a putative stem (progenitor) cell.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.