Cardiac telocytes are double positive for CD 34/ PDGFR ‐α

• Published in: Journal of cellular and molecular medicine 2015-08, Vol.19 (8), p.2036-2042
• Main Authors: Zhou, Qiulian, Wei, Lei, Zhong, Chongjun, Fu, Siyi, Bei, Yihua, Huică, Radu‐Ionuț, Wang, Fei, Xiao, Junjie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aortic valve; CD34 antigen; Cell culture; Education; Experiments; Flow cytometry; Heart; Interstitial cells; Labeling; Laboratory animals; MicroRNAs; Microscopy; Mitral valve; Organs; Ostomy; Phenotypes; Phenotyping; Platelets; Population; Tricuspid valve; Ventricle; Vimentin
• ISSN: 1582-1838; 1582-4934
• DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.12615

Telocytes ( TC s) are a distinct type of interstitial cells, which are featured with a small cellular body and long and thin elongations called telopodes (Tps). TC s have been widely identified in lots of tissues and organs including heart. Double staining for CD 34/ PDGFR ‐β (Platelet‐derived growth factor receptor β) or CD 34/Vimentin is considered to be critical for TC phenotyping. It has recently been proposed that CD 34/ PDGFR ‐α (Platelet‐derived growth factor receptor α) is actually a specific marker for TC s including cardiac TC s although the direct evidence is still lacking. Here, we showed that cardiac TC s were double positive for CD 34/ PDGFR ‐α in primary culture. CD 34/ PDGFR ‐α positive cells (putative cardiac TC s) also existed in mice ventricle and human cardiac valves including mitral valve, tricuspid valve and aortic valve. Over 87% of cells in a TC ‐enriched culture of rat cardiac interstitial cells were positive for PDGFR ‐α, while CD 34/ PDGFR ‐α double positive cells accounted for 30.25% of the whole cell population. We show that cardiac TC s are double positive for CD 34/ PDGFR ‐α. Better understanding of the immunocytochemical phenotypes of cardiac TC s might help using cardiac TC s as a novel source in cardiac repair.