The following study was conducted by Scientists from Technion‒Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa; Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel; University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; University of Toronto, Canada. Study is published in Nature Communications Journal as detailed below.
Nature Communications (2020); Volume 11, Article number: 75
Generating Ring-Shaped Engineered Heart Tissues from Ventricular and Atrial Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes
Abstract
The functions of the heart are achieved through coordination of different cardiac cell subtypes (e.g., ventricular, atrial, conduction-tissue cardiomyocytes). Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) offer unique opportunities for cardiac research. Traditional studies using these cells focused on single-cells and utilized mixed cell populations. Our goal was to develop clinically-relevant engineered heart tissues (EHTs) comprised of chamber-specific hPSC-CMs. Here we show that such EHTs can be generated by directing hPSCs to differentiate into ventricular or atrial cardiomyocytes, and then embedding these cardiomyocytes in a collagen-hydrogel to create chamber-specific, ring-shaped, EHTs. The chamber-specific EHTs display distinct atrial versus ventricular phenotypes as revealed by immunostaining, gene-expression, optical assessment of action-potentials and conduction velocity, pharmacology, and mechanical force measurements. We also establish an atrial EHT-based arrhythmia model and confirm its usefulness by applying relevant pharmacological interventions. Thus, our chamber-specific EHT models can be used for cardiac disease modeling, pathophysiological studies and drug testing.
Source:
Nature Communications
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13868-x
Citation:
Goldfracht, I., Protze, S., Shiti, A. et al. Generating ring-shaped engineered heart tissues from ventricular and atrial human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Nat Commun 11, 75 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13868-x.
