Abstract

Stem cells have inherent property to proliferate and differentiate into varieties of cells thus have significant importance in cell based therapy. However, significant number of cells die once transplanted into ischemic myocardium because of unfavourable environment inside heart. Preconditioning with pharmacological drugs or with short cycles of hypoxia/anoxia followed by reoxygenation evokes endogenous protective mechanism against ischemic stress both in vitro and in vivo models and it may be therefore a necessary step to enhance their survival and proliferation upon transplantation into the infarcted heart.