Sca1-Derived Cells Are a Source of Myocardial Renewal in the Murine Adult Heart

Although the mammalian heart is one of the least regenerative organs in the body, recent evidence indicates that the myocardium undergoes a certain degree of renewal to maintain homeostasis during normal aging. However, the cellular origin of cardiomyocyte renewal has remained elusive due to lack of lineage tracing experiments focusing on putative adult cardiac precursor cells. We have generated triple-transgenic mice based on the tet-cre system to identify descendants of cells that have expressed the stem cell marker Sca1. We found a significant and lasting contribution of Sca1-derived cells to cardiomyocytes during normal aging. Ischemic damage and pressure overload resulted in increased differentiation of Sca1-derived cells to the different cell types present in the heart. Our results reveal a source of cells for cardiomyocyte renewal and provide a possible explanation for the limited contribution of Sca1-derived cells to myocardial repair under pathological conditions.