Cardiac Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells

The ability of human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate towards the cardiac lineage has attracted significant interest, initially with a strong focus on regenerative medicine. The ultimate goal to repair the heart by cardiomyocyte replacement has, however, proven challenging. Human cardiac diff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stem cells international 2011-01, Vol.2011 (2011), p.1-12
Main Authors: Rajala, Kristiina, Pekkanen-Mattila, Mari, Aalto-Setälä, Katriina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biopsy
Diagnosis
Heart
Heart diseases
Review
Stem cells
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Summary:The ability of human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate towards the cardiac lineage has attracted significant interest, initially with a strong focus on regenerative medicine. The ultimate goal to repair the heart by cardiomyocyte replacement has, however, proven challenging. Human cardiac differentiation has been difficult to control, but methods are improving, and the process, to a certain extent, can be manipulated and directed. The stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes described to date exhibit rather immature functional and structural characteristics compared to adult cardiomyocytes. Thus, a future challenge will be to develop strategies to reach a higher degree of cardiomyocyte maturation in vitro, to isolate cardiomyocytes from the heterogeneous pool of differentiating cells, as well as to guide the differentiation into the desired subtype, that is, ventricular, atrial, and pacemaker cells. In this paper, we will discuss the strategies for the generation of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells and their characteristics, as well as highlight some applications for the cells.
ISSN:1687-966X
1687-9678
1687-9678
DOI:10.4061/2011/383709