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It has been nearly 15 years since the discovery of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). During this time, differentiation methods to targeted cells have dramatically improved, and many types of cells in the human body can be currently generated at high efficiency. In the cardiovascular field, the ability to generate human cardiomyocytes in vitro with the same genetic background as patients has provided a great opportunity to investigate human cardiovascular diseases at the cellular level to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying the diseases and discover potential therapeutics. Additionally, iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes have provided a powerful platform to study drug-induced cardiotoxicity and identify patients at high risk for the cardiotoxicity; thus, accelerating personalized precision medicine. Moreover, iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes can be sources for cardiac cell therapy. Here, we review these achievements and discuss potential improvements for the future application of iPSC technology in cardiovascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from type 1 long QT (LQT1) patients can differentiate into cardiomyocytes (CMs) including ventricular cells to recapitulate the disease phenotype. Although optical recordings using membrane potential dyes to monitor action potentials (APs) were reported, no study has investigated the disease phenotypes of cardiac channelopathy in association with the cardiac subtype at the single-cell level. We induced iPSC-CMs from three control and three LQT1 patients. Single-cell analysis using a fast-responding dye confirmed that ventricular cells were the dominant subtype (control-iPSC-CMs: 98%, 88%, 91%; LQT1-iPSC-CMs: 95%, 79%, 92%). In addition, LQT1-iPSC-ventricular cells displayed an increased frequency of early afterdepolarizations (pvalue=0.031). Cardiomyocyte monolayers constituted mostly of ventricular cells derived from LQT1-iPSCs showed prolonged AP duration (APD) (pvalue=0.000096). High-throughput assays using cardiomyocyte monolayers in 96-well plates demonstrated that IKr inhibitors prolonged APDs in both control- and LQT1-iPSC-CM monolayers. We confirmed that the optical recordings of APs in single cells and monolayers derived from control- and LQT1-iPSC-CMs can be used to assess arrhythmogenicity, supporting the feasibility of membrane potential dye-based high-throughput screening to study ventricular arrhythmias caused by genetic channelopathy or cardiotoxic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) offer a unique opportunity for disease modeling. However, it is not invariably successful to recapitulate the disease phenotype because of the immaturity of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs). The purpose of this study was to establish and analyze iPSC-based model of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), which is characterized by adrenergically mediated lethal arrhythmias, more precisely using electrical pacing that could promote the development of new pharmacotherapies. Method and Results: We generated hiPSCs from a 37-year-old CPVT patient and differentiated them into cardiomyocytes. Under spontaneous beating conditions, no significant difference was found in the timing irregularity of spontaneous Ca2+ transients between control- and CPVT-hiPSC-CMs. Using Ca2+ imaging at 1 Hz electrical field stimulation, isoproterenol induced an abnormal diastolic Ca2+ increase more frequently in CPVT- than in control-hiPSC-CMs (control 12% vs. CPVT 43%, p<0.05). Action potential recordings of spontaneous beating hiPSC-CMs revealed no significant difference in the frequency of delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) between control and CPVT cells. After isoproterenol application with pacing at 1 Hz, 87.5% of CPVT-hiPSC-CMs developed DADs, compared to 30% of control-hiPSC-CMs (p<0.05). Pre-incubation with 10 μM S107, which stabilizes the closed state of the ryanodine receptor 2, significantly decreased the percentage of CPVT-hiPSC-CMs presenting DADs to 25% (p<0.05). Conclusions: We recapitulated the electrophysiological features of CPVT-derived hiPSC-CMs using electrical pacing. The development of DADs in the presence of isoproterenol was significantly suppressed by S107. Our model provides a promising platform to study disease mechanisms and screen drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: For the treatment of heart failure, a new strategy to improve cardiac function and inhibit cardiac remodeling needs to be established. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are pluripotent cells that can differentiate into cell types from all three germ layers both in vitro and in vivo. The therapeutic effect of ES/iPS cell-derived progeny was reported in animal model. Mouse and human somatic cells can be reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by the transduction of four transcription factors, Oct 3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. However, the low induction efficiency hinders the clinical application of iPS technology, and efforts have been made to improve the reprogramming efficiency. There are variations in the characteristics in ES/iPS cell lines, and the further understanding is necessary for the applications of ES/iPS cell technology. Some improvements were also made in the methods to induce cardiomyocytes from ES/iPS cells efficiently. This review article is focused on generation of iPS cells, cardiomyocyte differentiation from ES/iPS cells, and transplantation of derived cardiomyocytes.This article is part of a special issue entitled, "Cardiovascular Stem Cells Revisited". [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the article titled "Optical Recording of Action Potentials in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Single Cells and Monolayers Generated from Long QT Syndrome Type 1 Patients" [[1]], there were errors in Figure 1(a) where extra lines were drawn during the production process. Graph: Figure 1 Type 1 long QT syndrome family background and cardiac differentiation from human iPSCs. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract: Cardiac transcription factors play crucial roles in cardiac development and differentiation. To address the target genes they regulate is important for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes. In this study, ES cell lines harboring a neomycin resistance gene in the Nkx2–5 gene locus were generated and used to make purified ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes (ESCM) by in vitro differentiation and successive G418 treatment. Three lines with different Nkx2–5 gene expression levels were made and named as Nkx2–5 −/−, +/−, and overexpressing ESCMs. In order to investigate Nkx2–5-regulated gene expression in cardiomyocytes, the gene expression profiles were compared among these lines. The expression patterns of known Nkx2–5 downstream genes were consistent with the previous investigations in vivo. Several genes with Nkx2–5-dependent changes in their expression were detected and confirmed by real-time PCR. This study investigated Nkx2–5-regulated gene expression in ESCM and suggested potential targets of Nkx2–5 in cardiogenesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Many studies have shown the feasibility of in vivo cardiac transplantation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) in animal experiments. However, nano-structural confirmation of the successful incorporation of the engrafted iPSC-CMs including electron microscopy (EM) has not been accomplished, partly because identification of graft cells in EM has proven to be difficult. Using APEX2, an engineered ascorbate peroxidase imaging tag, we successfully localized and analyzed the fine structure of sarcomeres and the excitation contraction machinery of iPSC-CMs 6 months after their engraftment in infarcted mouse hearts. APEX2 made iPSC-CMs visible in multiple imaging modalities including light microscopy, X-ray microscopic tomography, transmission EM, and scanning EM. EM tomography allowed assessment of the differentiation state of APEX2-positive iPSC-CMs and analysis of the fine structure of the sarcomeres including T-tubules and dyads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) are a crucial source of cells in cardiac development and regeneration. However, reported CPCs are heterogeneous, and no gene has been identified to transiently mark undifferentiated CPCs throughout heart development. Here we show that Spalt-like gene 1 ( Sall1 ), a zing-finger transcription factor, is expressed in undifferentiated CPCs giving rise to both left and right ventricles. Sall1 was transiently expressed in precardiac mesoderm contributing to the first heart field (left ventricle precursors) but not in the field itself. Similarly, Sall1 expression was maintained in the second heart field (outflow tract/right ventricle precursors) but not in cardiac cells. In vitro, high levels of Sall1 at mesodermal stages enhanced cardiomyogenesis, whereas its continued expression suppressed cardiac differentiation. Our study demonstrates that Sall1 marks CPCs in an undifferentiated state and regulates cardiac differentiation. These findings provide fundamental insights into CPC maintenance, which can be instrumental for CPC-based regenerative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]