In vitro cardiomyogenic differentiation of adipose‐derived stromal cells using transforming growth factor‐ β 1

Transplanting stem cells differentiated towards a cardiac lineage can regenerate cardiac muscle tissues to treat myocardial infarction. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that transforming growth factor‐ β 1 (TGF‐ β 1) induces cardiomyogenic differentiation of adipose‐ derived stromal cells (ADSCs) in vitro . Rat ADSCs were cultured with TGF‐ β 1 (10 ng ml −1 ) for 2 weeks in vitro . ADSCs cultured without TGF‐ β 1 served as a control. The mRNA expression of cardiac‐specific gene was induced by TGF‐ β 1, while the control culture did not show cardiac‐specific gene expression. Immunocytochemical analyses showed that a small fraction of ADSCs cultured with TGF‐ β 1 for 2 weeks stained positively for cardiac myosin heavy chain (MHC) and α ‐sarcomeric actin. Flow cytometric analyses showed that the proportion of cells expressing cardiac MHC increased with TGF‐ β 1. However, no mesenchymal differentiation (e.g., osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation) was detected other than cardiomyogenic differentiation. These results showed that TGF‐ β 1 induce ADSC cardiomyogenic differentiation in vitro , which could be useful for myocardial infarction stem cell therapy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.