Characteristics of cardiac cell cultures derived from human myocardial explants.

Primary cell cultures derived from human myocardial explants were obtained and characterized. The explant cultures contained cardiac stem cells (c-kit(+); ≈ 4%), microvascular cells (endothelial cells and pericytes), fibroblasts, and myofibroblasts. It was demonstrated that culturing of cardiac cells in cardiospheres did not promote enrichment of the cell culture with stem cells.