Characterisation of human PSC-derived cardiovascular cell types

Vascularization and maturation options for cardiac tissue engineered structures are currently intensively investigated. Therefore, the generation and characterisation of all cardiovascular cell types from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC; either induced -iPSC- or embryonic -hESC) are of particular interest. In our group, differentiation and selection methods were described for obtaining highly pure hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (CM; selected for αMHC), endothelial cells (EC; selected for CD31) and PDGFRβ expressing cardiac pericyte-like cells (PC). With the purpose of identifying cell type-related mechanisms in co-culture and tissue formation, gene expression profile of hPSC-derived CM, ECs, and PCs was compared to their undifferentiated progeny (hPSC) as well as to primary pericytes (hPC-PL) and fibroblasts (HFF). To characterize the generated cell types, samples from 3 differentiations per cell type were compared in a microarray analysis with each other, their undifferentiated origin, and 2 samples of primary hPC-PL and HFF.