1 research outputs found
Enhanced Cardiac Differentiation of Human Cardiovascular Disease Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells by Applying Unidirectional Electrical Pulses Using Aligned Electroactive Nanofibrous Scaffolds
In the embryonic heart, electrical
impulses propagate in a unidirectional
manner from the sinus venosus and appear to be involved in cardiogenesis.
In this work, aligned and random polyaniline/polyetersulfone (PANI/PES)
nanofibrous scaffolds doped by Camphor-10-sulfonic acid (β)
(CPSA) were fabricated via electrospinning and used to conduct electrical
impulses in a unidirectional and multidirectional fashion, respectively.
A bioreactor was subsequently engineered to apply electrical impulses
to cells cultured on PANI/PES scaffolds. We established cardiovascular
disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (CVD-iPSCs) from the
fibroblasts of patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgeries. The CVD-iPSCs
were seeded onto the scaffolds, cultured in cardiomyocyte-inducing
factors, and exposed to electrical impulses for 1 h/day, over a 15-day
time period in the bioreactor. The application of the unidirectional
electrical stimulation to the cells significantly increased the number
of cardiac Troponin T (cTnT+) cells in comparison to multidirectional
electrical stimulation using random fibrous scaffolds. This was confirmed
by real-time polymerase chain reaction for cardiac-related transcription
factors (<i>NKX2.5, GATA4</i>, and <i>NPPA</i>) and a cardiac-specific structural
gene (<i>TNNT2</i>). Here we report for the first time that applying electrical
pulses in a unidirectional manner mimicking the unidirectional wave
of electrical stimulation in the heart, could increase the derivation
of cardiomyocytes from CVD-iPSCs