For each lesson illustrative material and bibliographical references from scientific journals will be provided
Learning Objectives
Knowledge and comprehension of the biology and pathophysiology of cardiomyogenic stem cells and endothelial progenitor cells, with specific attention to the experimental approaches used in in-vivo and in-vitro studies.
Comprehension of the most recent experimental and clinical achievements in the field of hearth and vessel regenerative medicine and of their therapeutic potential.
The students have to correctly answer to 5 of 6 multiple choice questions.
Course program
Pluripotent and multipotent cardiomiogenic precursors: production techniques, phenotypic, molecular and fuctional characterization.
Cardiomiogenic precursors and mechanisms of cardiac regeneration: advantages, disadvantages, limitations.
Clinical use of cardiomiogenic precursors in cardiac regeneration.
Cardiac regeneration potentials of tissue engineering using pluripotent and multipotent cardiomiogenic precursors.
Endothelial progenitor cells: phenotypic and functional characteristics
EPC mobilization and homing into ischaemic tissue
Mechanisms of action in endothelium regeneration
EPC as therapeutic targets: pharmacological modulation of their regenerative capacity
Clinical use of EPC as therapeutic strategy to promote angiogenesis in limb ischaemia
Clinical use of EPC in acute myocardial infarction
New approaches for vascular disorder treatment:
blood vessel engineering using embryonic stem cells, EPC and iPS; the cell-sheet engineering approach