Rapamycin efficiently promotes cardiac differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells.

ABSTRACT: To investigate the effects of rapamycin on cardiac differentiation, murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were induced into cardiomyocytes by 10-4 M ascorbic acid (AA), 20 nM rapamycin alone or 0.01% solvent DMSO. We found that rapamycin alone was insufficient to initiate cardiomyogenesis. Then, the ESCs were treated with AA and rapamycin (20 nM) or AA and DMSO (0.01%) as a control. Compared with control, mouse ESCs (mESCs) treated with rapamycin (20 nM) and AA yielded a significantly higher percentage of cardiomyocytes, as confirmed by the percentage of beating embryonic bodies (EBs), the immunofluorescence and FACS analysis. Rapamycin significantly increased the expression of a panel of cardiac markers including Gata4, α-Mhc, β-Mhc, and Tnnt2. Additionally, rapamycin enhanced the expression

SUBMITTER: Lu Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5463265 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature