Fate of Bone Marrow SSEA1+ cells after TAC.

<p>(A) Experimental Protocol. SSEA1+ cells were depleted from the bone marrow (grey circles) of a C57 mouse (grey mouse) by FACS and replaced by bone marrow SSEA1+ cells from a GFP transgenic mouse (A1, green circles, green mouse). The chimeric bone marrow was injected into lethally irradiated C57 mice. Bar graphs from flow cytometry analysis of SSEA1+ and GFP+ cells in the bone marrow (B) and heart (D) from sham (black bars) and 7 days post-TAC (white bars). The percentage of GFP+ cells contributing to stem cell populations in the bone marrow (C) and heart (E) in sham and TAC (7 days post) animals was analyzed by flow cytometry. Bone marrow SSEA1+ cells contributed to the HSC and EPC, and SSEA1+ cell populations but not to the CSC population. The percentage of SSEA1+ (black wedge), CSC (pink wedge), EPC (grey wedge), and HSC (red wedge) of the total GFP+ cell pool in the bone marrow (F) and myocardium (G) 7 days post-TAC. n = 3-5 per group. * P < 0.05 compared to sham. # P = 0.05 compared to SSEA1+ cells. Abbreviations: SSEA1, stage-specific embryonic antigen 1; TAC, trans-aortic constriction; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting; GFP, green fluorescent protein; HSC, hematopoietic stem cells; EPC, endothelial progenitor cells; CSC, cardiac stem cells.