**3. MSCs as a regenerative therapeutic for cardiovascular diseases**

The hypothesis that exogenously delivered stem cells would promote organ regeneration through transdifferentiation into tissue-specific cells sparked interest in stem cell research and cell-based therapy and was originally supported by studies in the heart [82] where MSCs become cardiomyocyte-like cells and endothelial cells [41, 43]. However, subsequent studies have revealed that the MSC-mediated cardiac regenerative process is more complex than was initially envisioned (**Figure 6**).
