Generation, expansion, and differentiation of cardiovascular progenitor cells from human pluripotent stem cells

Cardiovascular progenitor cells (CVPCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells represent an invaluable potential source for the study of early embryonic cardiovascular development and stem cell-based therapies for congenital and acquired heart diseases. To fully realize their values, it is essential to establish an efficient and stable differentiation system for the induction of these pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) into the CVPCs and robustly expand them in culture, and then further differentiate these CVPCs into multiple cardiovascular cell types. Here we describe the protocols for efficient derivation, expansion, and differentiation of CVPCs from hPSCs in a chemically defined medium under feeder- and serum-free culture conditions.