Nat biotechnol: human embryonic stem cell derived epicardial cells enhance cardiac regeneration driven by cardiomyocytes

August 14, 2019 news / bioin / - epicardium and its derivatives provide nutrition and structural support for the development and adult heart To this end, Charles E Murry from Washington University and Sanjay Sinha from Cambridge University jointly tested the ability of epicardium derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to enhance the structure and function of engineered heart tissue in vitro, and to improve the efficacy of hESC cardiomyocyte transplantation in the heart of rats with myocardial infarction The relevant research results were published in Nature Biotechnology, entitled "epic cells derived from human embryonic stem cells authority cardiomyosyte driven heart regeneration" Photo source: compared with mesenchymal cells, epicardial cells significantly enhance the contractility, myofibrillar structure and calcium treatment capacity of human engineered heart tissue, and reduce passive stiffness The transplanted epicardial cells form a permanent fibroblast graft in the infarcted heart The combined transplantation of epicardial cells and cardiomyocytes derived from hESC in vivo doubled the proliferation rate of cardiac grafts, increased the size of cardiac grafts by 2.6 times, and enhanced the vascularization of grafts and hosts It is worth noting that the combined transplantation improves the systolic function of the heart compared with the heart receiving cardiomyocytes, epicardial cells or carriers alone Therefore, this study shows that epicardial cells can enhance the volume and function of cardiac grafts, making them a promising adjunctive therapy for cardiac repair Reference materials: Sanjay Sinha et al Epic cells derived from human embryonic stem cells authority cardiomyosyte driven heart regeneration Nature Biotechnology Volume 37, pages 895-906 (2019) DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0197-9