title: Baicalin maintains late-stage functional cardiomyocytes in embryoid bodies derived from murine embryonic stem cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Low efficiency of cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation from embryonic stem (ES) cells limits their therapeutic use. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of baicalin, a natural flavonoid compound, on the in vitro cardiac differentiation of murine ES cells.
  
  
  METHODS
  The induction of ES cells into cardiac-like cells was performed by embryoid body (EB)-based differentiation method. The electrophysiological properties of the ES cell-derived CMs (ES-CMs) were measured by patch-clamp. The biomarkers of ES-CMs were determined by quantitative RT-PCR and immunofluorescence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Continuous baicalin treatment decreased the size of EBs, and increased the proportion of α-actinin-positive CMs and transcript level of cardiac specific markers in beating EBs by inducing cell death of non-CMs. Baicalin increased the percentage of working ES-CMs which had typical responses to β-adrenergic and muscarinic stimulations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Baicalin maintains the late-stage functional CMs in EBs derived from murine ES cells. This study describes a new insight into the various biological effects of baicalin on cardiac differentiation of pluripotent stem cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Chinese-German Stem Cell Center, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory for Drug Target Researches and Pharmacodynamic Evaluation of Hubei Province, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Meilin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Mengmeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Huamin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xinwu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baudis
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haustein
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khalil
authors.forename: Tomo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sarić
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hescheler
authors.forename: Jiaoya
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D058732:Embryoid Bodies / Q000187:drug effects*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; C038044:baicalin