by Northwestern Medicine researchers have made a significant breakthrough in the field of cardiac research by developing an innovative approach to enhance the maturation process of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), as detailed in a recent publication in Cell Reports.
HiPSC-CMs, which are cultured heart muscle cell models, are extensively used in scientific research to investigate various human Beating Heart diseases and drug responses. However, these newly cultured cardiomyocytes do not accurately represent mature heart muscle cells found in adult humans. Previous methods for measuring maturation were also not high-throughput, which could impact the results of numerous experiments.
Understanding the maturity level of these cells is crucial, as differences in maturity may influence the outcomes of various studies, explained Paul Burridge, Ph.D., associate professor of Pharmacology and the study’s senior author.
“Although we can create hiPSC-CMs in the lab, they don’t perfectly mimic mature adult cardiomyocytes,” Burridge said, who is also a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. “There are several ways to make these cardiomyocytes more mature, but these techniques are time-consuming and not always compatible with the assays we perform. So, we were keen to explore what we could do to make these cardiomyocytes as similar to adult cardiomyocytes as possible.”
In the study, Burridge and his team cultured hiPSC-CMs and carried out high-throughput assays to evaluate the maturation of the cells. They identified several factors that could indicate when the cells have reached maturity, including gene expression, mitochondrial function, and electrical activity. By optimizing these factors, the researchers were able to improve the maturity of the hiPSC-CMs, bringing them closer to resembling adult cardiomyocytes. This advancement could set a new standard for cardiac research and pave the way for more accurate and reliable results.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
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