ObjectiveTo review the role of stem cell niches in maintaining cardiac stem cells homeostasis, and to foresee its prospects. MethodsThe literature on cardiac stem cells niches was extensively reviewed. The roles of stem cell niches components, extracellular matrix, and secretory factors in maintaining cardiac stem cell homeostasis were analysed and reviewed. ResultsLots of experiments reveal that stem cell niches are able to delay the aging of cardiac stem cells, protect from external damage, keep stem properties, and improve the purity and quantity. However, the mechanism is not fully understood. ConclusionThe stem cell niches have a very bright application prospect in homeostasis, purification, and amplification for the cardiac stem cells, and it needs further study.
With the discovery of cardiac stem cell, the conception of the heart considered to be a terminally differentiated organ was changed. Cardiac stem cells possess the common characteristics of self-renew, clone formation and differentiating into cardiomyocyte, smooth muscle cell, and endothelial cell. Because of the properties of tissue specificity and lineage commitment, cardiac stem cells are considered to have great advantages over other stem cells in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. However, the low rate of engraftment still remains a problem to be solved. In recent years, people attempted to combine stem cell therapy with other ways, such as tissue engineering, gene therapy, exosome therapy, to cure cardiovascular diseases, aiming at finding better ways to treat the cardiovascular disease. This article is mainly for the reviewing of the mechanisms underlying the stem cell therapy and the combinatory use of new technology emerged these years.