Endogenous Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Is Required for Cardiac Differentiation in Human Embryonic Stem Cells (original) (raw)
Figure 2
Canonical Wnt expression during mesoderm specification correlates with the efficiency of cardiac differentiation.
Quantitative RT-PCR for canonical Wnt ligands Wnt1, Wnt3a and Wnt8a. Data are presented as mean fold expression normalized to HPRT relative to undifferentiated cells. (A) Representative of cultures of H7 hES cells that showed efficient and inefficient directed differentiation to cardiomyocytes (>25% and <5% sMHC+, respectively), as well as H1 hES cells that are poorly cardiogenic. (B) Cultures that routinely generated <5% cardiomyocytes were treated with Wnt3a or Dkk1 in addition to activin A and BMP4. After 17 days of differentiation following activin A treatment, cells were stained for sMHC. Exogenous Wnt3a partially rescued inefficient cardiac differentiation.