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Rigid microenvironments promote cardiac differentiation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells

Authors :
Armin Arshi, Yasuhiro Nakashima, Haruko Nakano, Sarayoot Eaimkhong, Denis Evseenko, Jason Reed, Adam Z Stieg, James K Gimzewski and Atsushi Nakano
Source :
Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, Vol 14, Iss 2, p 025003 (2013)
Publication Year :
2013
Publisher :
Taylor & Francis Group, 2013.

Abstract

While adult heart muscle is the least regenerative of tissues, embryonic cardiomyocytes are proliferative, with embryonic stem (ES) cells providing an endless reservoir. In addition to secreted factors and cell–cell interactions, the extracellular microenvironment has been shown to play an important role in stem cell lineage specification, and understanding how scaffold elasticity influences cardiac differentiation is crucial to cardiac tissue engineering. Though previous studies have analyzed the role of matrix elasticity on the function of differentiated cardiomyocytes, whether it affects the induction of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells is poorly understood. Here, we examine the role of matrix rigidity on cardiac differentiation using mouse and human ES cells. Culture on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates of varied monomer-to-crosslinker ratios revealed that rigid extracellular matrices promote a higher yield of de novo cardiomyocytes from undifferentiated ES cells. Using a genetically modified ES system that allows us to purify differentiated cardiomyocytes by drug selection, we demonstrate that rigid environments induce higher cardiac troponin T expression, beating rate of foci, and expression ratio of adult α- to fetal β- myosin heavy chain in a purified cardiac population. M-mode and mechanical interferometry image analyses demonstrate that these ES-derived cardiomyocytes display functional maturity and synchronization of beating when co-cultured with neonatal cardiomyocytes harvested from a developing embryo. Together, these data identify matrix stiffness as an independent factor that instructs not only the maturation of already differentiated cardiomyocytes but also the induction and proliferation of cardiomyocytes from undifferentiated progenitors. Manipulation of the stiffness will help direct the production of functional cardiomyocytes en masse from stem cells for regenerative medicine purposes.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14686996 and 18785514
Volume :
14
Issue :
2
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Science and Technology of Advanced Materials
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.78f524179e5e4a4c97665bd0f8abcf4c
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/1468-6996/14/2/025003