Embryonic Blood Vessels That Produce Blood Stem Cells Can Also Make Heart Muscle Cells
August 2, 2012 - (UCLA) - "UCLA stem cell researchers have discovered a surprising and unexpected phenomenon in the embryonic endothelium, the thin layer of cells lining the interior of blood vessels, where blood stem cells are made during early development. The scientists found that the lack of a single transcription factor — a type of gene that controls cell fate by regulating other genes — allows precursor cells in the endothelium that normally generate blood stem cells and blood progenitor cells in blood-forming tissues to become something else entirely: beating cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells. The two-year study is published Aug. 3 in the peer-reviewed journal Cell." Read Full Article
