Enhancing the Cardiogenic Potential of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cellsvia Extracellular Matrix Proteins

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Galina Chizhikova
Mikhail Khotin
Natalya Bildyug
Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Cell Technologies, Tikhoretsky Ave. 4, 194064 Saint Petersburg, Russia.
10.22088/IJMCM.BUMS.13.4.337
Abstract
Current in vitro models of cardiogenic differentiation include a variety of manipulations and
stimulating agents, which interfere with the application of such models for preclinical drug
testing. So, the aim of this study was to develop an approach for cardiogenic differentiation in
vitro with a minimum of manipulations and to assess the influence of the extracellular matrix
protein collagen IV on the cardiogenic potential of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
Cardiogenic markers were analyzed by immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis.
The results showed that collagen IV increased the cardiac marker GATA4 and altered the level
of muscle actin isoforms, α-smooth muscle actin and α-cardiac muscle actin, in two different
lines of human MSCs. The results indicate that the use of matrices containing collagen IV may
increase the cardiogenic potential of human MSCs and may be a promising approach to obtain
an in vitro model for cardiogenic differentiation suitable for preclinical drug discovery.
Keywords
Human mesenchymal stem cell
cardiogenic potential
extracellular matrix
collagenIV
matrigel