Cited by 201Congenital heart defects researchMesenchymal stem cell researchCardiac Fibrosis and Remodeling

The Role of the Epicardium During Heart Development and Repair

Open access
Quijada, Pearl, Trembley, Michael A., Small, Eric M.·2020·Circulation Research

Abstract

The heart is lined by a single layer of mesothelial cells called the epicardium that provides important cellular contributions for embryonic heart formation. The epicardium harbors a population of progenitor cells that undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition displaying characteristic conversion of planar epithelial cells into multipolar and invasive mesenchymal cells before differentiating into nonmyocyte cardiac lineages, such as vascular smooth muscle cells, pericytes, and fibroblasts. The epicardium is also a source of paracrine cues that are essential for fetal cardiac growth, coronary vessel patterning, and regenerative heart repair. Although the epicardium becomes dormant after birth, cardiac injury reactivates developmental gene programs that stimulate epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; however, it is not clear how the epicardium contributes to disease progression or repair in the adult. In this review, we will summarize the molecular mechanisms that control epicardium-derived progenitor cell migration, and the functional contributions of the epicardium to heart formation and cardiomyopathy. Future perspectives will be presented to highlight emerging therapeutic strategies aimed at harnessing the regenerative potential of the fetal epicardium for cardiac repair.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1161/circresaha.119.315857

Cites

176 of 176 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Quijada, P., Trembley, M. A., & Small, E. M.
Affiliations
  • University of Rochester Medicine (US)
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Small, Eric M.
Venue
Circulation Research
Published
2020-01-31
Volume
126
Issue
3
Pages
377-394
ISSN
  • 0009-7330 (ISSN-L)
  • 1524-4571
OpenAlex
W3003280117
Cited by
201
References
176
Citations by year
2026: 31 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 1
FWCI
2.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Circulation Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR002001)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL133761, R01HL136179, R01HL120919, T32HL066988, F32HL134206, R01HL144867, T32HL007572)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM068411)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Congenital heart defects research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Genetics › Mesenchymal stem cell research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Fibrosis and Remodeling
Keywords
epicardium, heart development, cardiac repair, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, epicardial progenitor cells, paracrine signaling, cardiac fibroblasts, pericytes, vascular smooth muscle cells, cardiomyopathy, cardiac regeneration, cardiomyocyte differentiation
MeSH terms
Animals, Heart Diseases, Humans, Myocardium, Pericardium, Regeneration, Paracrine Communication

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review