A novel cardiac differentiation method of a large number and uniformly-sized spheroids using microfabricated culture vessels

• Published in: Regenerative therapy Vol. 15; pp. 18 - 26
• Main Authors: Miwa, Tatsuaki, Idiris, Alimjan, Kumagai, Hiromichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-12-2020; Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine; Elsevier
• Subjects: Cardiac differentiation; Human induced pluripotent stem cells; Microfabricated vessels; Original; Reaggregation; Spheroid; WNT signal; Microfabricated vessels; WNT signal; Cardiac differentiation; Human induced pluripotent stem cells; Reaggregation; Spheroid; human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs); human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs)
• ISSN: 2352-3204; 2352-3204
• DOI: 10.1016/j.reth.2020.04.008

Cardiomyocytes differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have great potential for regenerative medicine and drug discovery. In this study, we developed a novel protocol to more reproducibly and efficiently induce cardiomyocytes. A large quantity of uniformly sized spheroids were generated from hiPSCs using microfabricated vessels and induced into cardiac differentiation. In the middle of the cardiac differentiation process, spheroids were then dissociated into single cells and reaggregated into smaller spheroids using the microfabricated vessels. This reaggregation process raised WNT5A and WNT11 expression levels and improved the quality of cardiomyocyte population compared to that in a control group in which dissociation and reaggregation were not performed.
•Microfabricated culture vessels were used to form large number of hiPSC spheroids.•High purity cardiomyocytes were obtained by reaggregation of hiPSC-derived spheroids.•Maturation of cardiomyocyte was promoted by the reaggregation process.•WNTs were also increased the reaggregation process during cardiac differentiation.