Despite state-of-the-art methods for the early diagnosis and treatment, heart failure resulting from myocardial\r\ninfarction (MI) continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Most of the existing treatment\r\nmodalities against heart failure are symptom-based, short-term and do not prolong survival. Stem cell-based therapy\r\nis promising strategy to lead to cardiac repair after MI. Over the last decade, stem cells with diverse origin, identity,\r\nand plasticity have been utilized for the regeneration and repair of damaged myocardium after MI, both in animal\r\nmodels and humans. The major challenges and dilemmas in stem cell therapy after MI included- ethical concerns\r\nand alloreactivity (with embryonic stem cells), malignant transformation and vector contamination (with inducible\r\nprogenitor cells), coronary restenosis (with mobilization of bone marrow stem cells), and cardiac arrhythmias and\r\nstructural heterogeneity due to non-coupling of cardiac and non-cardiac skeletal cells (with skeletal myoblasts).\r\nTherefore, as much as the progress made in the field of cardiac regenerative therapy, questions have been asked on\r\nwhat constitutes the most appropriate source for the stem cells. In particular, the identity, characteristics and ability\r\nof the stem cells to retain their fate while being propagated ex vivo have invited a passionate discussion among\r\ncell-biologists, geneticists and clinicians. This review summarizes the diverse origin of the stem cells and discusses\r\nrecent advances made for the identification, selection and propagation of stem cells for the regeneration or repair of\r\ndamaged myocardium after MI.
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