Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte in vitro models: benchmarking progress and ongoing challenges.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Research
• Stem Cell Biology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are used to generate cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) for in vitro cardiac models.
• A key challenge is the immaturity of hiPSC-CMs, necessitating research into maturation techniques.
• Developing mature hiPSC-CM models is crucial for accurate cardiac disease modeling and drug testing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically analyze existing literature on hiPSC-CM models.
• To identify common and promising techniques for hiPSC-CM fabrication, maturation, and assessment.
• To compile findings into an open-access database and highlight trends in the field.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 300 studies utilizing hiPSC-CM models.
• Analyzed data on fabrication, maturation protocols, and assessment methods for cardiomyocyte functionality and maturity.
• Compiled data into an open-access database for community use.

Main Results:

• Identified diverse fabrication and maturation techniques currently employed for hiPSC-CMs.
• Highlighted prevalent and emerging methods for assessing cardiomyocyte functionality, including structural maturity, contractile function, electrophysiology, and gene expression.
• Observed consistent improvements in hiPSC-CM maturity and functionality across studies over time.

Conclusions:

• The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of current trends and practices in hiPSC-CM model development.
• The findings offer insights into optimizing methods for engineering more mature cardiac tissues in vitro.
• Collaboration and shared pursuit of standardized assessment techniques are critical for advancing the field of cardiac tissue engineering.