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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Functional Cardiomyocyte-like Cells
Published on: August 9, 2017
DNA methylation microarray uncovers a permissive methylome for cardiomyocyte differentiation in human mesenchymal
Kavitha Govarthanan1, Piyush Kumar Gupta1, Deepa Ramasamy1
1Stem cells and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, Tamilnadu, India.
Abstract:
Differentiation of Wharton's Jelly-Mesenchymal Stem cells (WJ-MSCs) into cardiomyocytes (CMs) in vitro has been reported widely although contradictions remain regarding the maturation of differentiated MSCs into fully functioning CMs. Studies suggest that use of epigenetic modifiers like 5'Azacytidine (5-AC) in MSCs de-methylates DNA and results in expression of cardiac-specific genes (CSGs). However, only partial expression of the CSG set leads to incomplete differentiation of WJ-MSCs to CMs. We used the Agilent 180 K human DNA methylation microarray on WJ-MSCs, 5-AC treated WJ-MSCs and human cardiac tissue (hCT) to analyze differential DNA methylation profiles which were then validated by bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP). BSP confirmed that only a limited number of CSGs were de-methylated by 5-AC in WJ-MSCs. It also revealed that hCT displays a methylation profile similar to promoter regions of CSG in untreated WJ-MSCs. Thus, the presence of hypo-methylated CSGs indicates that WJ-MSCs are ideal cell types for cardiomyogenic differentiation.
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