Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Differentiation: Modulation of Differentiation and "Loss-of-Function" Analysis In...

Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, when cultivated as embryo-like aggregates, are able to differentiate in vitro into derivatives of all primary germ layers. These include functionally active cardiomyocytes representing ventricle-like, atrium-like, and pacemaker-like cells. During differentiation, a developmentally controlled expression pattern of cardiac-specific genes, proteins, action potentials, ion channels, and receptors is found. This developmental pattern can be modulated in vitro by differentiation factors such as retinoic acid or by "gain-of-function" and "loss-of-function" approaches. The latter strategy was successfully used for the characterization of cardiac phenotypes of β(1) integrin-deficient ES cells after differentiation into the cardiogenic lineage.