| Summary: | Functional mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may represent an unlimited cell source with superior therapeutic benefits for tissue regeneration to somatic tissue, such as bone marrow (BM)-derived MSC. In the first part of this project, I investigated whether the differential expression of ion channels in iPSC-MSCs was responsible for their higher proliferation capacity than that of BM-MSCs. The expression of ion channels for K+, Na+, Ca2+ and Cl- currents was assessed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The functional role of these ion channels were then verified by patch clamp experiments to compare the electrophysiological properties of iPSC-MSCs versus BM-MSCs. I detected significant mRNA expression of ion channel genes including KCa1.1, KCa3.1, KCNH1, Kir2.1, SCN9A, CACNA1C and Clcn3 in both human iPSC-MSCs and BM-MSCs; while Kir2.2 and Kir2.3 were only observed in human iPSC-MSCs. Furthermore, I identified five types of currents (BKCa, IKDR, IKir, IKCa and ICl) in iPSC-MSCs, while only four of them (BKCa, IKDR, IKir and IKCa) were observed in BM-MSCs. The rate of cell proliferation was 1.4 fold faster in iPSC-MSCs as compared to BM-MSCs. Interestingly, the proliferation rate of human iPSCMSCs was significantly reduced when inhibiting IKDR with shRNA and hEAG1 channel blockers, 4-AP and astemizole. Though to a lesser extent, the proliferation rate of human BM-MSCs also decreased by IKDR blockage. These results demonstrated that hEAG1 channel plays a crucial role in controlling the proliferation rate of human iPSC-MSCs but to a lesser extent in BM-MSCs.
Next, I examined whether forced expression of a transcription factor- myocardin in iPSC-MSC using viral vectors (adenovirus or lentivirus) can further enhance their trans-differentiation to cardiomyocytes and improve their electrophysiological properties for cardiac regeneration. My results on RT-PCR and immunofluorescent staining revealed that myocardin induced the expression of several cardiac and smooth muscle cell markers, including α-MHC, cTnT, GATA4, α-actinin, and cardiac MHC, smooth muscle cell markers MYH11, calponin, and SM α-actin, but not the more mature cardiac markers such as β-MHC and MLC2v in iPSC-MSCs. These findings indicate that forced expression of myocardin in iPSC-MSC resulted in partial trans-differentiation into cardiomyocytes phenotype. Furthermore, I also discovered that myocardin altered the electrophysiological properties of iPSC-MSCs when examined by RT-PCR and patch clamp experiments. Forced expression of myocardin in iPSC-MSC enhanced the expression of Kv4.3, SCN9A and CACNA1C, but reduced that of KCa3.1 and Kir 2.2 in iPSC-MSCs. Moreover, BKCa, IKir, ICl, Ito and INa.TTX were detected in iPSC-MSC with ectopic expression of myocardin; while only BKCa, IKir, ICl, IKDR and IKCa were noted in iPSC-MSC transfected with green florescence protein. Furthermore, as measured by multi-electrode arrays recording plate, the conduction velocity of the neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes cocultured iPSC-MSC monolayer was significantly increased after ectopic expression of myocardin. Taken together, I have demonstrated that hEAG1 channel is important in the regulation of iPSC-MSC proliferation and forced expression of myocardin in iPSC-MSC resulted in their partial transdifferentiation into cardiomyocytes phenotype and improved the electrical conduction during integration with mature cardiomyocytes. === published_or_final_version === Medicine === Doctoral === Doctor of Philosophy
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