Generation of Human Cardiomyocytes: A Differentiation Protocol from Feeder-free Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Summary

Pluripotent stem cells, either embryonic or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, constitute a valuable source of human differentiated cells, including cardiomyocytes. Here, we will focus on cardiac induction of iPS cells, showing how to use them to obtain functional human cardiomyocytes through an embryoid bodies-based protocol.

Abstract

In order to investigate the events driving heart development and to determine the molecular mechanisms leading to myocardial diseases in humans, it is essential first to generate functional human cardiomyocytes (CMs). The use of these cells in drug discovery and toxicology studies would also be highly beneficial, allowing new pharmacological molecules for the treatment of cardiac disorders to be validated pre-clinically on cells of human origin. Of the possible sources of CMs, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are among the most promising, as they can be derived directly from readily accessible patient tissue and possess an intrinsic capacity to give rise to all cell types of the body ¹. Several methods have been proposed for differentiating iPS cells into CMs, ranging from the classical embryoid bodies (EBs) aggregation approach to chemically defined protocols ^2,3. In this article we propose an EBs-based protocol and show how this method can be employed to efficiently generate functional CM-like cells from feeder-free iPS cells.

Introduction

Historically, the investigation of the genetic and molecular mechanisms driving human development and disease has been based on the generation of genetically modified animal models. However, numerous human phenotypes fail to be successfully replicated in mice, mainly because of the biological differences existing between the two species. On the other hand, access to human tissues may be limited and often do not allow enough material to be obtained for in-depth experimental studies. The field of cardiovascular biology suffers from both these limitations: the physiology of the human heart is significantly different from that of the mouse, and a significant quantity of h....

Protocol

1. Feeder-free Maintenance and Passaging of Human iPS Cell Lines

1. Prepare the Matrigel-coated dishes. Thaw one vial of human ESC-qualified Matrix on ice for one hour and dilute it in 25 ml DMEM-F12 medium. Add 1 ml to each 35 mm plate (or equivalent amounts per surface area if other dishes are used), keeping everything on ice and ensuring that all plates and tubes are pre-cooled. Cover plates with aluminum foil.

Note: Matrigel stock concentrations vary by the batch. Dilution instructions are indicated on the data sheet.

2. Keep plates on ice overnight and remove from ice the next day. ....

Results

In our studies we generated CMs from several iPS cell lines. These lines were initially generated on an MEF feeder layer but were immediately placed on Matrigel using a defined medium (either mTESR1 or Nutristem). Various assays were used to verify maintenance of the morphological properties, the expression of markers typical of pluripotent cells (OCT-4, SSEA4 and TRA1-60) and their genome stability (Figure 1).

Induction into the cardiac lineage was triggered by aggregation of.......

Discussion

Pluripotent stem cells have the potential to differentiate spontaneously into CMs, albeit with low efficiency and high variability among lines. The development of novel induction methods has therefore focused on improving the efficiency of the process and moving toward more defined protocols. However, most of these new differentiation methods are quite complex, requiring elaborate culture conditions, fine control of timing and concentration of reagents, and treatment with expensive cytokines and growth factors. Also, dif.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Media and Reagents
Human ESC-qualified Matrix	BD Biosciences	354277	Thaw the 5 ml bottle at 4 °C on ice O/N, aliquot in pre-chilled cryo-tubes on ice, according to the data sheet dilution instructions and store at -20 °C .
Fibronectin, from human plasma, 0.1% solution	Sigma	F0896-2MG	Working concentration: 5 μg/cm2
Laminin	Sigma	L2020-1MG	Working concentration: 5 μg/cm2
PBS (no Mg and Ca), 10X	Lonza	BE17-515F
PBS (with Mg and Ca), 10X	Bio Sera	XC-S2067/500
Dispase II, neutral protease, grade II	Roche	4942078001	Stock: 10 mg/ml in DMEM-F12 at -20 °C, working solution: 1 mg/ml in PBS (no Mg/Ca)
Trypsin/EDTA, 0.5%	Sigma	T3924
Collagenase type 2	Worthington	4176	Dilute to 480 U/ml (e.g. 1.6 mg/ml) in PBS with Mg and Ca
DMEM-F12	Life Technologies	21331-020
Knockout DMEM	Life Technologies	10829-018
Knockout Serum Replacement (KSR)	Life Technologies	10828-028	Thaw at 4 °C, aliquot and store at -20 °C
F–tal Bovine Serum (origin South America)	Invitrogen	10270-106	Batches should be tested for their cardiogenic potential. Thaw at 4 °C, heat-inactivate at 56 °C for 30 min, aliquot and store at -20 °C
PenStrep, penicillin-Streptomycin, 100X	Life Technologies	15140-122
GlutaMAX, 100X	Life Technologies	35050-038
MEM NEAA, 100X	Invitrogen	11140-135
N2 supplement, 100X	Life Technologies	17502-048
B27 supplement, 50X	Life Technologies	12587-010
2-mercapt–thanol	Invitrogen	31350-010
Gelatin, from porcine skin	Sigma	G1890-100G	Make stock at 1% in water, store at -20 °C. Dilute to 0.1% in PBS and keep at 4 °C
mTeSR1	Stem Cell Technologies	5850	Combine Supplement 5X with the basic medium, aliquot and store at -20 °C. Do not keep complete medium at 4 °C for more than 1 week
Nutristem hESC XF	Stemgent from Biological Industries	05-100-1A	Thaw at 4 °C O/N, aliquot and store at -20 °C until use. Aliquots may be kept at 4 °C for no more than a week.
mFreSR	Stem Cell Technologies	5853
Ascorbic acid	Sigma	A4544-25G	Prepare stocks at 10 mg/ml in water. Store aliquots at -20 °C in the dark. Add to EBM at the final concentration (500X)
Plasticware
35 mm culture dishes	Becton Dickinson	353001
Cell scraper	Corning Incorporated	3008
12-well plates	Becton Dickinson	353043
Permanox 2-well chamber slides	Thermo Fisher Scientific	177437
Glass 2-well chamber slides	Thermo Fisher Scientific	177380
6-well plates, ultra-low-attachment surface	Corning Incorporated	3471
18G needle	Becton Dickinson	304622
Glass pasteur pipettes, 230 mm	VWR International	612-1702
2.5 ml syringe	Becton Dickinson	300188
Equipments
IVF Workstation	KSystem, by Nikon
Nikon SMZ1500 Stereomicroscope	Nikon