Table 1.

Metabolic adaptations and functional changes of pluripotent and adult stem cells in response to specific environmental stimuli.

Stimulus	Cell Type	Metabolic Change	Functional Change	Signaling Pathway	References
Hypoxia	c-kit+ CPC HSC	↑ glycolysis ↓ oxphos	↑ stemness ↑ self-renewal	HIF-1α/PDK4	[6,7,8]
ROS	Sca1+ CPC	↓ glycolysis ↑ oxphos	↑ differentiation ↓ stemness	BMI1/epigenetic modification	[9]
Akt overexpression	MSC	↑ glycolysis	↑ survival ↓ inflammation	AKT/eNOS signaling	[10]
PIM1 kinase overexpression	c-kit+ BMC c-kit+ mCPC c-kit+ hCPC	↑ glycolysis	↑ survival ↑ proliferation	AKT/eNOS signaling	[11,12,13,14]
B adrenergic stimulation	c-kit+ hCPC	↑ glycolysis	↑ survival ↑ proliferation	AKT/eNOS signaling	[15,16]
Glutamine	Sca1+ CPC	↑ oxphos	↑ survival ↑ proliferation	TCA intermediates	[17,18]
Oleic Acid	Sca1+ CPC PSC MSC	↑ glycolysis ↑ oxphos ↑ FA oxidation	↑ survival ↑ maturation ↓ apoptosis	PPARα-FA oxidation	[19,20,21]
Lactate	PSC	↑ oxphos	↑ differentiation	TCA intermediates	[22]

↑ increasing; ↓ decreasing; Abbreviations: cardiac progenitor cells (CPC), mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), hematopoietic stem cells (HPC), bone-marrow derived cells (BMC), pluripotent stem cells (PSC).