5-Azacytidine Is Insufficient For Cardiogenesis In Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

The cardiogenic potential of ASCs was analysed by studying the morphological changes after induction, the changes in the cardiogenic genes expression i.e. GATA4, MLC-2v, MLC-2a, NKX2.5, β-MHC, α-MHC, Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), Connexin 43, Cardiac Troponin C, Cardiac Troponin I and myocyte enhancer factor (MEF2C) and the changes of embryonic stem cells genes expression at P5 and P10 using quantitative PCR.Our results showed that the induced ASCs did not show significant morphological difference compared to the non-induced ASCs. While quantitative PCR data indicated that most cardiogenic genes and stemness genes expression level decreased after induction at P5 and P10.5-azacytidine is insufficient for the cardiogenic induction of the ASCs.Myocardial infarction results in the death of cardiomyocytes and these cells cannot regenerate as they are terminally differentiated. Dead cardiomyocytes are normally replaced with scar tissue. Human adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) have been shown to have the ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes under appropriate stimuli. Furthermore, adipose tissue can be found in abundance and easily harvested, which made it an attractive alternative stem cell source especially for transplantation purposes. Transplantation of cultured cells has been proposed as a treatment for heart failure and these cells need to be cultured and expanded for a long period to achieve a sufficient number of cells. However, safety and efficacy of long-term cultured cells have become a major concern in stem cell based therapy. These issues also need to be addressed to ensure the safety of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation. The efficacy of stem cells can be evaluated by differentiation into specific cells such as cardiomyocytes. For differentiation, stem cells need to be induced in appropriate conditions and stimuli to have structural and functional differentiated cells.Investigators have used different methods to induce the adipose derive