Differentiation of human adult cardiac stem cells exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields.
OBJECTIVE
Modulation of cardiac stem cell (CSC) differentiation with minimal manipulation is one of the main goals of clinical applicability of cell therapy for heart failure. CSCs, obtained from human myocardial bioptic specimens and grown as cardiospheres (CSps) and cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs), can engraft and partially regenerate the infarcted myocardium, as previously described. In this paper we assessed the hypothesis that exposure of CSps and CDCs to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs), tuned at Ca2+ ion cyclotron energy resonance (Ca2+-ICR), may drive their differentiation towards a cardiac-specific phenotype.


RESULTS
A significant increase in the expression of cardiac markers was observed after 5 days of exposure to Ca2+-ICR in both human CSps and CDCs, as evidenced at transcriptional, translational, and phenotypical levels. Ca2+ mobilization among intracellular storages was observed and confirmed by compartmentalized analysis of Ca2+ fluorescent probes.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that ELF-EMFs tuned at Ca2+-ICR could be used to drive cardiac-specific differentiation in adult cardiac progenitor cells without any pharmacological or genetic manipulation of the cells that will be used for therapeutic purposes.
Gaetani
Roberto
R
Department of Experimental Medicine, Pasteur Institute, Cenci Bolognetti Foundation, Sapienza University of Rome, viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Ledda
Mario
M
Barile
Lucio
L
Chimenti
Isotta
I
De Carlo
Flavia
F
Forte
Elvira
E
Ionta
Vittoria
V
Giuliani
Livio
L
D'Emilia
Enrico
E
Frati
Giacomo
G
Miraldi
Fabio
F
Pozzi
Deleana
D
Messina
Elisa
E
Grimaldi
Settimio
S
Giacomello
Alessandro
A
Lisi
Antonella
A
D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
D002118:Calcium