title: Neuregulin-1 promotes cardiomyocyte differentiation of genetically engineered embryonic stem cell clones.
abstract: Embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived cardiomyocytes (ESCMs) must be specifically purified in order to prevent teratoma formation, and this confusing issue has hampered their clinical application. We therefore investigated a technique to generate pure labeled ESCMs for possible use in cardiac repair. We generated transgenic ES cell lines expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under the transcriptional control of the alpha-cardiac myosin heavy chain (alpha-MHC) promoter. Differentiated EGFP-positive ES cells displayed characteristics of CMs. Furthermore, neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) upregulated the expression of the cardiac-restricted transcription factors Nkx2.5 and GATA-4, as well as differentiated CM factors (alpha-MHC, beta-MHC). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that NRG-1 increased expression of cardiac-specific troponin T in the beating foci of the embryoid bodies. This work revealed a potential method for specifically labeling and enriching ESCMs by combining genetically-engineered ES cell clones and exogenous growth factor treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The First Peopleos Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guotong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yalan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shaowen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Baogui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Qiuyan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002999:Clone Cells; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D020890:Neuregulin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020107:Troponin T / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020890:Neuregulin-1; D020107:Troponin T; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins