Cardioprotective c-kit⁺ cells are from the bone marrow and regulate the myocardial balance of angiogenic cytokines
J. Clin. Invest. Shafie Fazel, et al. 116:1865 doi:10.1172/JCI27019 [Go to this article.]

Figure 2
c-kit⁺ cells in infarcted myocardium are from the bone marrow. (A) EPCs from bone marrow chimeric mice carry the GFP transgene. (B) Dual-colored flow cytometry of C57BL/6 (C57) or C57BL/6-GFP bone marrow chimeric mice (C57-GFP) for GFP on the x axis and c-kit on the y axis. In the bone marrow preparation, 74% of c-kit⁺ cells in the C57-GFP chimeric mice expressed GFP; 74% of c-kit⁺ cells in the infarcted myocardium in the C57-GFP chimeric mice also expressed GFP. Representative flow cytometry data from 5 independent experiments is shown with results summarized in Table 1. Iso. con, isotype control (C) Confocal micrograph confirming that c-kit⁺ cells in infarcted myocardium also expressed GFP in chimeric mice (arrow). A GFP⁺ cell that did not express c-kit (arrowhead) is also visualized in this micrograph. Scale bar: 50 μm. (D) Engraftment of bone marrow–derived cells was minimal when evaluated at 28 days after MI in the bone marrow chimeric mice. Scale bar: 100 μm.