Transcriptional and Functional Profiling of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes (original) (raw)
Figure 5
Survival and fate of _Fluc+/eGFP+_hESC-CMs in vivo.
(a) RT-PCR analysis of various hESC and cardiac specific markers revealed no significant differences between _Fluc+/eGFP+_hESCs and control non-transduced hESCs (see Figure 1b for comparison), other than the presence of Fluc. (b) _Fluc+/eGFP+_hESC-CMs express cardiac specific markers such as α-actin, troponin-T, connexin-43, and MEF2C (all in red) and GFP (green, scale bars = 50 µm). (c) A representative animal imaged for 2 months following transplantation of 1 million _Fluc+/eGFP+_hESC-CMs into the heart. (d) In vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI) signal measured from animals in which _Fluc+/eGFP+_hESC-CMs were transplanted into the ischemic hearts (n = 15). Signal activity falls drastically within the first 3 weeks of transplantation and remains stable thereafter, with no evidence of tumorigenesis (left). From 21 days post-transplantation onwards, BLI signal is reduced to <10% of the signal obtained at two days post-transplantation. (e) Histopathological evaluation of hearts following _Fluc+/eGFP+_hESC-CM delivery. H&E staining (left panels) demonstrates cluster of cells within the infarcted region of the heart (scale bars = 200, 20 µm for low and high magnification images, respectively). GFP positive cells within this cluster also express cardiac troponin-T (red, near right panel) and connexin-43 (red, far right panel). Scale bars = 20 µm.