Medical research made huge strides in treating heart disease in the 20thcentury, from drug-eluding stents to automatic internal defibrillators. Public awareness of the dangers of heart disease has never been more pervasive. Now, though, ten years into a new millennium, scientists are gearing up for the next great challenges in tackling this pervasive condition. Cell therapy is going to be a key weapon in the fight against heart disease. It has the potential to address many cardiovascular conditions. From heart failure to atrioventricular nodal dysfunction, the young but promising field of cell therapy is set to play a significant role in developing the cures that the upcoming decades of hard work will yield.

Regeneratingthe Heart: Stem Cells and the Cardiovascular System organizes the fieldinto a digestible body of knowledge. Its four sections cover mechanicalregeneration, electrical regeneration, cardiac tissues and in vivo stem celltherapies. An array of talented researchers share the fruits of their labors,with chapters covering such crucial issues as the cardiogenic potential ofvarying stem cell types, the ways in which they might be used to tacklearrhythmias, their possible application to biological replacements for cardiactissues such as valves, and the varying approaches used in the in vivoevaluation of stem cell therapies, including methods of delivering stem cellsto the myocardium.

Thiscomprehensive survey of an area of research with such exciting potential is aninvaluable resource both for veteran stem cell researchers who need to monitorfresh developments, and for newly minted investigators seeking inspirationalexamples.

Is inclusive of all stem cell types used for cardiac regeneration, including iPS cells.

1. Introduction, Glenn R. Gaudette & Ira S. Cohen.- Section 1: Stem Cells for Regeneration of Mechanical Function. - 2. Inducing embryonic stem cells to become cardiac myocytes, Alexander M. Becker, Michael Rubart and Loren J. Field.- 3. Regenerating function in vivo with myocytes derived from embryonic stem cells, Priya R. Baraniak and Todd C. McDevitt.- 4. Excitation-contraction coupling, functional properties, autonomic and hormonal regulation in human embryonic stem cells-derived cardiomyocytes, Oshra Sedan and Ofer Binah.- 5. Embryonic stem cell derivatives for cardiac therapy: advantages, limitations and long term prospects, Michal Weiler-Sagie and Lior Gepstein.-6. Methods for Differentiation of Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cells into Myocytes, Shinji Makino and Keiichi Fukuda.- 7. Homing, Survival, and Paracrine Effects of Bone Marrow Derived Stem Cells. Sergey Doronin.- 8.Bone marrow cell therapy after myocardial infarction: What have we learned from the clinical trials and where are we going?, Kai C. Wollert.- 9. Evidence for the existence of resident cardiac stem cells, Isotta Chimenti, Roberto Gaetani, Lucio Barile, Elvira Forte, Vittoria Ionta, Francesco Angelini, Elisa Messina and Alessandro Giacomello.- 10.Multiple sources for cardiac stem cells and their cardiogenic potential, Antonio Paolo Beltrami, Daniela Cesselli, and Carlo Alberto Beltrami.- 11. Skeletal muscle stem cells in the spotlight: the satellite cell, Zipora Yablonka-Reuveni and Kenneth Day.- 12. Regenerating Mechanical Function in vivo with Skeletal Myoblasts, Todd K. Rosengart and Muath Bishawi.- 13. Methods for inducing pluripotentcy, Raymond L. Page, Christopher Malcuit and Tanja Dominko.- 14. Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cells for Cardiac Regeneration, Naama Zeevi-Levin and Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor.- 15. Induced Pluripotent Cells for Myocardial Infarction Repair, Timothy J. Nelson and Andre Terzic.- Section 2: Stem Cells for Regeneration of Electrical Function.- 16. Substrates ofcardiac Re-entrant Arrhythmias: the Possible Role of Tissue Regeneration and Replacement, André G. Kléber.- 17. Integration of stem cell into the cardiac synsitium: formation of gap junctions, Peter R. Brink, Ira S. Cohen and Richard T. Mathias.- 18. Bradyarrhythmia therapies: the creation of biological pacemakers and restoring AV node function, Richard B. Robinson.- 19. Tachyarrhyhmias therapies: approaches to atrial fibrillation and post-infarction ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation, J. Kevin Donahue and Kenneth R. Laurita.- 20.Long term prospects for arrhythmia treatment: advantages and limitations of gene and cell therapies, Michael R. Rosen.- Section 3: Regenerating Cardiac Tissues.- 21. Regenerating Blood Vessels, Tracy A. Gwyther and Marsha W. Rolle.- 22. Regenerating Heart Valves, Benedikt Weber and Simon P. Hoerstrup.- 23. Tissue engineering strategies for cardiac regeneration, Amandine F. G. Godier-Furnémont, Yi Duan, Robert Maidhof and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic.- Section 4: Technial Issues for Stem Cell Therapy in the Heart.- 24. Methods of Cell Delivery for Cardiac Repair, Sarah Fernandes and Hans Reinecke.- 25. Tracking of stem cells in vivo, Yingli Fu and Dara L. Kraitchman.- 26. Assessing Regional Mechanical Function after Stem Cell Delivery, Jacques P. Guyette and Glenn R. Gaudette.

Here, an array of talented researchers covers our current state of knowledge in this exciting field. Four sections cover applications of stem cell techniques to mechanical regeneration, electrical regeneration, cardiac tissues and in vivo stem cell therapies.