C-kit Expression Identifies Cardiac Precursor Cells in Neonatal Mice

Through directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells, it has been demonstrated that mesodermal lineages in the mammalian heart (smooth muscle, endothelial, and cardiac) develop from a common, multipotent cardiovascular precursor (Dev Biol 265:262–275, 2004; Cell 127:1137–1150, 2006; Dev Cell 11:723–732, 2006). Identification of cardiovascular precursor cells at various stages of lineage commitment has been determined by expression of multiple markers, including the stem cell factor receptor c-kit. Utilizing a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenic mouse model in which EGFP expression is placed under control of the c-kit promoter (c-kit^BAC -EGFP), work from our laboratory indicates that c-kit expression identifies a multipotent cardiovascular precursor cell population within the early postnatal heart that can be isolated, expanded, and differentiated in vitro into all three cell lineages that specify the heart (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:1808–1813, 2009).