Experimental study on co-culture of DiI-labeled rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes to induce differentiation into cardiomyocyte-like cells

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Mu, Junsheng^a; | Zhang, Zichang^a | Zhou, Fan^b | Zheng, Jianwei^c | Bo, Ping^a | You, Bin^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Cardiac Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing, China | [b] Department of Ultrasound, The Third Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China | [c] Heart Center of Sunshine Union Hospital, Weifang, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Junsheng Mu, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing, China. E-mail: wesleymu@hotmail.com

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Myocardial infarction is a serious clinical disease with high mortality and poor prognosis. Cardiomyocytes (CMs) have limited regeneration abilities after ischemic injury. Their growth and differentiation can be enhanced by contact co-culture with stem cells. OBJECTIVE:The aim was to study the contact co-culture of Dil-labeled bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and CMs for inducing differentiation of CMs from stem cells for treating myocardial infarction. METHODS:After contact co-culture, the differentiation of BMSCs into CMs was analyzed qualitatively by detecting myocardial markers (cardiac troponin T and α-smooth muscle actin) using immunofluorescence and quantitatively using flow cytometry. To examine the mechanism, possible gap junctions between BMSCs and CMs were analyzed by detecting gap junction protein connexin 43 (C×43) expression in BMSCs using immunofluorescence. The functionality of gap junctions was analyzed using dye transfer experiments. RESULTS:The results revealed that BMSCs in contact with CMs exhibited myocardial markers and a significant increase in differentiation rate (P < 0.05); they also proved the existence and function of gap junctions between BMSCs and CMs. CONCLUSIONS:It was shown that contact co-culture can induce Dil-labeled BMSCs to differentiate into CM-like cells and examined the principle of gap junction-mediated signaling pathways involved in inducing stem cells to differentiate into cardiomyocytes.

Keywords: Stem cell therapy, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, cardiomyocytes, contact co-culture, DiI labeling in vitro

DOI: 10.3233/BME-221429

Journal: Bio-Medical Materials and Engineering, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 319-330, 2023