title: Cardiac differentiation of embryonic stem cells with point-source electrical stimulation.
abstract: The use of pluripotent stem cells as a means to repair damaged heart tissue has recently emerged as a promising, yet controversial therapy. Despite the different approaches and the variety of cell types used, many of these procedures have been met with mixed success. The lack of understanding of the differentiation and integration process, notably with respect to electrical signaling, significantly hampers the development of these therapies. A system was thus developed allowing the use of point source electrical stimulation on embryonic stem (ES) cells to study the effect of physiologically-relevant electrical stimulus. When modulating the amplitude of the stimulus over various differentiation stages of embryonic stem cells, differences in the proportions of cardiomyocytes to embryonic stem cells were observed through quantitative PCR. The use of this technique might have larger applications in understanding molecular pathways towards the regeneration process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA. mqchen@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Michael Q
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hollis Whittington
authors.forename: Gregory T A
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Kovacs
authors.forename: Joseph C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giovangrandi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D024722:Cardiac Myosins / Q000235:genetics; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008839:Microelectrodes; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000071317:Nanog Homeobox Protein; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020107:Troponin T / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D000071317:Nanog Homeobox Protein; C475540:Nanog protein, mouse; D020107:Troponin T; D024722:Cardiac Myosins