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Updated: Jun 25, 2026
An Antegrade Perfusion Method for Cardiomyocyte Isolation from Mice
Published on: May 19, 2021
A novel type of self-beating cardiomyocytes in adult mouse ventricles
Mariko Omatsu-Kanbe1, Hiroshi Matsuura
1Department of Physiology, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Shiga 520-2192, Japan. m_omatsu@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp
Insights
Researchers discovered novel resident heart cells in adult mouse ventricles. These cells spontaneously mature into beating cardiomyocytes, offering new insights into cardiac cell biology and regeneration potential.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Cell Biology
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Terminally-differentiated cardiomyocytes are the primary functional cells of the heart.
- The existence and potential of distinct resident cardiac cell populations remain an area of active investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence of resident heart cells distinct from mature cardiomyocytes.
- To characterize the behavior and potential of these novel cardiac cells.
Main Methods:
- Adult mouse hearts were subjected to enzymatic digestion to isolate cardiac cells.
- Isolated cells were cultured without specific differentiation-inducing agents.
- Cellular morphology, proliferation, and electrophysiological properties were analyzed.
Main Results:
- A population of rounded cells adhered and differentiated into spontaneously beating cells.
- These cells, termed atypically-shaped cardiomyocytes (ACMs), exhibited multinucleation and organized sarcomeres.
- ACMs displayed spontaneous action potentials characteristic of cardiomyocytes.
Conclusions:
- A novel type of resident heart cell exists in adult cardiac ventricles.
- These cells possess the intrinsic capacity to differentiate into functional, beating cardiomyocytes.
- This finding has implications for understanding cardiac repair and regeneration.
Abstract:
This study was designed to investigate the presence of resident heart cells that are distinct from terminally-differentiated cardiomyocytes. Adult mouse heart was coronary perfused with collagenase, and ventricles were excised and further digested. After spinning cardiomyocyte-containing fractions down, the supernatant fraction was collected and cultured without adding any chemicals. Two to five days after plating, some of rounded cells adhered to the culture dish, gradually changed their shape and then started self-beating. These self-beating cells did not appreciably proliferate but underwent a further morphological maturation process to form highly branched shapes with many projections. These cells were mostly multinucleated, well sarcomeric-organized and expressed cardiac marker proteins, defined as atypically-shaped cardiomyocytes (ACMs). Patch-clamp experiments revealed that ACMs exhibited spontaneous action potentials arising from the preceding slow diastolic depolarization. We thus found a novel type of resident heart cells in adult cardiac ventricles that spontaneously develop into self-beating cardiomyocytes.
