 - Despite the widespread use of pharmacological andor interventional reperfusion therapies, recovery of cardiac function in myocardial infarction patients is often modest or in some cases absent. Unlike classical re-perfusion therapies, which must be delivered before irreversible cardiac damage has occurred, the use of progenitor cells could potentially restore functional tissue in regions that otherwise would form only scar. A number of clinical trials have been performed, mainly using autologous bone marrow cells, and these suggest a significant albeit modest improvement in cardiac function post MI. However, a major limitation of autologous cell therapy in patients with cardiovascular disease is the deleterious influence of age and other cardiac risk factors on progenitor cell activity, which may limit greatly the potential efficacy of this promising approach. 