Differentiation of Reprogrammed Mouse Cardiac Fibroblasts into Functional Cardiomyocytes

• DOI: 10.1007/s12013-012-9487-2
• Publication Date: 2012-12-04T17:55:58Z
• Authors: Bo Jiang; Hongyan Dong; Qingpeng Li; Yong Yu; Zhifeng Zhang; Yazhou Zhang; Gang Wang; Zhongming Zhang
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; SOXB1 Transcription Factors; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; Cell Differentiation; Fibroblasts; Cellular Reprogramming; Coculture Techniques; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; Kruppel-Like Factor 4; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Animals; Myocytes, Cardiac; Octamer Transcription Factor-3; Cells, Cultured; Embryoid Bodies

Fibroblasts can be reprogrammed by ectopic expression of reprogramming factors to yield induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that are capable of transdifferentiating into diverse types of somatic cell lines. In this study, we examined if functional cardiomyocytes (CMs) can be produced from mouse cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), using iPS cell factor-based reprogramming. CFs were isolated from Oct4-GFP-C57 mice and infected with a retrovirus expressing the Yamanaka reprogramming factors, Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc to reprogram the CFs into a CF-iPS cell line. Primary mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (MEFs) were used as a control. We found that the dedifferentiated CF-iPS cells showed similar biological characteristics (morphology, pluripotent factor expression, and methylation level) as embryonic stem cells (ESs) and MEF-iPS cells. We used the classical embryoid bodies (EBs)-based method and a transwell CM co-culture system to simulate the myocardial paracrine microenvironment for performing CF-iPS cell cardiogenic differentiation. Under this simulated myocardial microenvironment, CF-iPS cells formed spontaneously beating EBs. The transdifferentiated self-beating cells expressed cardiac-specific transcription and structural factors and also displayed typical myocardial morphology and electrophysiological characteristics. CFs can be dedifferentiated into iPS cells and further transdifferentiated into CMs. CFs hold great promise for CM regeneration as an autologous cell source for functional CM in situ without the need for exogenous cell transplantation in ischemic heart disease.