From Hair to Heart: Hair-Follicle-Associated Pluripotent (HAP) Stem Cells Can Simultaneously Differentiate Into Mature Cardiomyocytes and Atrial Myocytes

Hair-follicle-associated pluripotent (HAP) stem cells express nestin, and are located in the bulge area of hair follicles and can differentiate to numerous types of cells. In the present study, we demonstrate that rat HAP stem cells simultaneously differentiated to mature cardiomyocytes and atrial myocytes. The addition of isoproterenol, activin A, bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP 4), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and cyclosporin A (CSA), induced simultaneously differentiation of HAP stem cells to c-kit-positive cardiomyocytes and MLC-2a-expressing atrial myocytes. The results of the present study suggest that HAP stem cells differentiating to cardiomyocytes and atrial myocytes have future clinical potential for heart regeneration.