Table 3.

Characteristics of different types of stem cells for cardiac regeneration

	BMSCs	MSCs	MBs	CSCs	EPCs	ESCs	iPSCs
Origin	Bone marrow	Bone marrow, heart, lung, adipose tissue	Muscle	Heart	Bone marrow, peripheral blood	ICM of blastocysts	Diverse tissues
Differentiated cells
CMs	Controversial	Controversial	Controversial	Possible	Impossible	Possible	Possible
Endothelial cells	Possible	Possible	No report	Possible	Possible	Possible	Possible
SMCs	Possible	Possible	No report	Possible	Impossible	Possible	Possible
Other cell types	Unknown	Possible	No report	Controversial	Impossible	Possible	Possible
Immunogenicity	Unlikely if autologous	Unlikely if autologous	Unlikely if autologous	Unlikely if autologous	Unlikely if autologous	Exists	Unlikely if autologous
Electrochemical coupling	No	Yes	No	Possible	–	Possible	Possible
Paracrine effect	Exists	Exists	Exists	Exists	Exists	Exists	Exists
In vitro expansion	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	Yes	Yes
Clinical safety	Yes	Yes	Side effects reported	Yes	Yes	Teratoma formation, ethical concerns, arrhythmia	Teratoma formation, mutagenesis, arrhythmia

BMSC bone marrow stem cell, MSC mesenchymal stem cell, MB mybolast, CSC cardiac stem cell, EPC endothelial progenitor cell, ESC embryonic stem cell, ICM inner cell mass, iPSC induced pluripotent stem cell, CM cardiomyocyte