Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Cardiomyocyte Co-Culture

Evaluate the change in transcription factors that have a role in human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) commitment to a cardiomyocyte lineage when co-cultured for 4 days with rat neonatal cardiomyocytes and before acquiring a recognizable cardiac phenotype. A myocardial microenvironment was generated by dissociating neonatal rat hearts and establishing cardiomyocyte primary cultures. HumanMSCs constitutively labeled with dsRed localized to the cell's mitochondria were either grown separately (control) or added to the cardiomyocyte primary cultures and grown for 4 days. dsRed fluorescent hMSCs were harvested from co-cultures at 4 days using a FACscan flow cytometer. The RNA for the microarray analysis was prepared from three biologically separate samples of hMSCs co-cultured for 4 days and from hMSCs grown separately for 4 days (control).