Although CNCCs are more prevalent in developing embryos, they have been shown to be retained in adult tissues in a dormant stage called neural crest stem cells.<ref name= "tomita">{{cite journal|last=Tomita|first=Y|coauthors=et al|title=Cardiac neural crest cells contribute to the dormant multipotent stem cell in the mammalian heart|journal=J Cell Biol|year=2005|month=September|volume=170|issue=7|pages=1135–1146|accessdate=20 November 2012|pmc=2171522|pmid=16186259|doi=10.1083/jcb.200504061}}</ref> Recent studies have been able to isolate these cardiac neural crest stem cells from mammal hearts and transplant them into the neural crest of a chick embryo.<ref name="tomita" /> These CNCCs were shown to migrate into the developing heart using the same lateral pathway as the embryonic cardiac neural crest cells, and differentiated into neural and glial cells.<ref name="tomita" />
Another study looked at the fate of these CNCCs after a heart attack (myocardial infarction) in young growing mice.<ref name= "tamura">{{cite journal|last=Tamura|first=Y|coauthors=et al|title=Neural crest-derived stem cells migrate and differentiate into cardiomyocytes after myocardial infarction|journal=J Am. Heart Assoc.|year=2011|month=January|volume=31|pages=582–589|url=http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/31/3/582.full.pdf|accessdate=20 November 2012|issue=3}}</ref> The CNCCs in the young mice were tagged with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and then traced.<ref name="tamura" /> Many were concentrated in the outflow tract, and some were found in the ventricular myocardium.<ref name="tamura" /> These cells were also shown to be differentiating into cardiomyocytes as the heart grew.<ref name="tamura" /> Although less were found, these EGFP-labelled CNCCs were still present in the adult heart.<ref name="tamura" /> When a heart attack was induced, the CNCCs aggregated in the ischemic border zone area (BZA, an area of damaged tissue that can still be saved) and helped contribute to the regeneration of the tissue to some extent via differentiation into cardiomyocytes to replace the necrotic tissue.<ref name="tamura" /><ref name= "bza">{{cite journal|last=Axford-Gatley|first=R.A.|coauthors=Wilson, G.J.|title=The "border zone" in myocardial infarction: An ultrastructural study in the dog using an electron-dense blood flow marker|journal=Am. J. Pathol.|year=1988|month=June|volume=131|issue=3|pages=452–464|accessdate=20 November 2012|pmc=1880711|pmid=3381878}}</ref>
