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Updated: Aug 30, 2026
High Efficiency Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Cardiomyocytes and Characterization by Flow Cytometry
Published on: September 23, 2014
Expression of the electrophysiological system during murine embryonic stem cell cardiac differentiation
Marjan van Kempen1, Antoni van Ginneken, Ingrid de Grijs
1Department of Medical Physiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Background:
Stem cell based replacement therapy is envisioned as a method to repair failing hearts suffering from cardiomyocyte loss. To prevent potentially lethal arrhythmias, the donor cellular electrophysiological make-up should match with the acceptor tissue. To engineer the desired electrophysiological phenotype, the underlying molecular regulation of ion channels and gap-junction proteins should be clarified first.
Methods:
We established the expression of seven main cardiac ion channel a-subunits and four b-subunits using semiquantitive RT-PCR and two major cardiac gap-junction proteins by immunohistochemistry during the differentiation process of murine ES cells into cardiomyocytes.
Results:
Ion channel mRNA expression profiles display sequential upregulation. Connexin-40 and -43 expression is low in early cardiomyocytes, increased expression rates were found in subsequent differentiation phases.
Conclusion:
Cardiac differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells is characterized by a sequential upregulation of the main cardiac ion channels and connexins.
