Uric acid: a potent molecular contributor to pluripotent stem cell cardiac differentiation via mesoderm specification.

ABSTRACT: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause of congenital anomaly and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Generation of cardiomyoctyes derived from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) has opened new avenues for investigation of human cardiac development. Here we report that uric acid (UA), a physiologically abundant compound during embryonic development, can consistently and robustly enhance cardiac differentiation of human PSCs including hESCs and hiPSCs, in replacement of ascorbic acid (AA). We optimized treatment conditions and demonstrate that differentiation day 0-2, a period for specification of mesoderm cells, was a critical time for UA effects. This was further confirmed by UA-induced upregulation of mesodermal markers. Furthermore, we show that the developi

SUBMITTER: Ke B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6461775 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature