Differentiation of subtype cardiomyocytes from human iPS cells on the ventricular ECM hydrogels

Abstract

Subtype cardiomyocytes (ventricular, atrial, and pacemaker) are required for the cardiac regenerative medicine. In this study, hydrogels made from goat ventricular ECM (vECM gels) were used as culture substrate for differentiating human iPS cells into cardiomyocytes. EDAC was used as crosslinker to modulate the mechanical properties of these gels. Four types of gels indicated by vECM concentration-EDAC concentration as 7.5mg/ml-10mM, 12.5mg/ml-30mM, 12.5mg/ml-100mM, and 15.0mg/ml-50mM were fabricated. Monolayer culture and differentiation of human iPS cells were firstly conducted on Matrigels and then replated on vECM gels. It was found that the ventricular marker MLC2v showed the highest expression on 7.5mg/ml-10mM gels, atrial marker MLC2a showed the highest expression on 12.5mg/ml-100mM gels, and the expression of pacemaker marker HCN4 showed no difference among the four types of vECM gels.