Identification of the gene profiling of Wt1GFP expressing cardiomyocytes at different stages of embryonic heart development [M]

Detailed FACS analyses of enzymatically disaggregated embryonic hearts from Wt1GFPKI mice revealed two distinct types of Wt1-GFP-positive cells based on their GFP expression levels: a Wt1-GFP bright population (H) and a Wt1-GFP dim (M) population. Interestingly, when viewed under the microscope, cultured Wt1GFP+ (M) cells were shown to exhibit synchronous contractions that suggest a cardiomyocyte identity. These observations also imply that a population of low Wt1-expressing cardiomyocytes contributes to the formation of the myocardium. In order to characterise the gene expression profile of the Wt1GFP expressing cardiomyocytes , RNA from the Wt1-GFP+ (M) population sorted cells from heart ventricles were isolated each day from E11.5 to E16.5.