title: Probing the mechanobiological properties of human embryonic stem cells in cardiac differentiation by optical tweezers.
abstract: Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and hESC-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CM) hold great promise for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However the mechanobiological properties of hESC and hESC-CM remains elusive. In this paper, we examined the dynamic and static micromechanical properties of hESC and hESC-CM, by manipulating via optical tweezers at the single-cell level. Theoretical approaches were developed to model the dynamic and static mechanical responses of cells during optical stretching. Our experiments showed that the mechanical stiffness of differentiated hESC-CM increased after cardiac differentiation. Such stiffening could associate with increasingly organized myofibrillar assembly that underlines the functional characteristics of hESC-CM. In summary, our findings lay the ground work for using hESC-CMs as models to study mechanical and contractile defects in heart diseases.
authors: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors: Youhua
authors: Y
authors: Tan
authors: Chi-wing
authors: CW
authors: Kong
authors: Shuxun
authors: S
authors: Chen
authors: Shuk Han
authors: SH
authors: Cheng
authors: Ronald A
authors: RA
authors: Li
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Sun
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009210:Myofibrils / Q000502:physiology; D052898:Optical Tweezers