Direct reprogramming of mouse fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes with chemical cocktails.

ABSTRACT: The direct conversion, or transdifferentiation, of non-cardiac cells into cardiomyocytes by forced expression of transcription factors and microRNAs provides promising approaches for cardiac regeneration. However, genetic manipulations raise safety concerns and are thus not desirable in most clinical applications. The discovery of full chemically induced pluripotent stem cells suggest the possibility of replacing transcription factors with chemical cocktails. Here, we report the generation of automatically beating cardiomyocyte-like cells from mouse fibroblasts using only chemical cocktails. These chemical-induced cardiomyocyte-like cells (CiCMs) express cardiomyocyte-specific markers, exhibit sarcomeric organization, and possess typical cardiac calcium flux and electrophysiological featur

SUBMITTER: Fu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4559819 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature