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Epicardial progenitors contribute to the cardiomyocyte lineage in the developing heart NATURE Zhou, B., Ma, Q., Rajagopal, S., Wu, S. M., Domian, I., Rivera-Feliciano, J., Jiang, D., von Gise, A., Ikeda, S., Chien, K. R., Pu, W. T. 2008; 454 (7200): 109-U5

Abstract

The heart is formed from cardiogenic progenitors expressing the transcription factors Nkx2-5 and Isl1 (refs 1 and 2). These multipotent progenitors give rise to cardiomyocyte, smooth muscle and endothelial cells, the major lineages of the mature heart. Here we identify a novel cardiogenic precursor marked by expression of the transcription factor Wt1 and located within the epicardium-an epithelial sheet overlying the heart. During normal murine heart development, a subset of these Wt1(+) precursors differentiated into fully functional cardiomyocytes. Wt1(+) proepicardial cells arose from progenitors that express Nkx2-5 and Isl1, suggesting that they share a developmental origin with multipotent Nkx2-5(+) and Isl1(+) progenitors. These results identify Wt1(+) epicardial cells as previously unrecognized cardiomyocyte progenitors, and lay the foundation for future efforts to harness the cardiogenic potential of these progenitors for cardiac regeneration and repair.

View details for DOI 10.1038/nature07060

View details for Web of Science ID 000257308300047

View details for PubMedID 18568026

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2574791