scholarly journals Dynamic loading of human engineered heart tissue enhances contractile function and drives a desmosome-linked disease phenotype

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (603) ◽  
pp. eabd1817
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Bliley ◽  
Mathilde C. S. C. Vermeer ◽  
Rebecca M. Duffy ◽  
Ivan Batalov ◽  
Duco Kramer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Loading ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Contractile Function ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
Disease Phenotype ◽  
Heart Formation ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
And Function

The role that mechanical forces play in shaping the structure and function of the heart is critical to understanding heart formation and the etiology of disease but is challenging to study in patients. Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) incorporating human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)–derived cardiomyocytes have the potential to provide insight into these adaptive and maladaptive changes. However, most EHT systems cannot model both preload (stretch during chamber filling) and afterload (pressure the heart must work against to eject blood). Here, we have developed a new dynamic EHT (dyn-EHT) model that enables us to tune preload and have unconstrained contractile shortening of >10%. To do this, three-dimensional (3D) EHTs were integrated with an elastic polydimethylsiloxane strip providing mechanical preload and afterload in addition to enabling contractile force measurements based on strip bending. Our results demonstrated that dynamic loading improves the function of wild-type EHTs on the basis of the magnitude of the applied force, leading to improved alignment, conduction velocity, and contractility. For disease modeling, we used hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes from a patient with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy due to mutations in the desmoplakin gene. We demonstrated that manifestation of this desmosome-linked disease state required dyn-EHT conditioning and that it could not be induced using 2D or standard 3D EHT approaches. Thus, a dynamic loading strategy is necessary to provoke the disease phenotype of diastolic lengthening, reduction of desmosome counts, and reduced contractility, which are related to primary end points of clinical disease, such as chamber thinning and reduced cardiac output.

scholarly journals Dynamic Loading of Human Engineered Heart Tissue Enhances Contractile Function and Drives Desmosome-linked Disease Phenotype

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Bliley ◽  
Mathilde C.S.C Vermeer ◽  
Rebecca M. Duffy ◽  
Ivan Batalov ◽  
Duco Kramer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Loading ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Contractile Function ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
Disease Phenotype ◽  
Heart Formation ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
And Function ◽  
Engineered Heart Tissues

ABSTRACTThe role mechanical forces play in shaping the structure and function of the heart is critical to understanding heart formation and the etiology of disease but is challenging to study in patients. Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) incorporating human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes have the potential to provide insight into these adaptive and maladaptive changes in the heart. However, most EHT systems are unable to model both preload (stretch during chamber filling) and afterload (pressure the heart must work against to eject blood). Here, we have developed a new dynamic EHT (dyn-EHT) model that enables us to tune preload and have unconstrained fractional shortening of >10%. To do this, 3D EHTs are integrated with an elastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) strip that provides mechanical pre- and afterload to the tissue in addition to enabling contractile force measurements based on strip bending. Our results demonstrate in wild-type EHTs that dynamic loading is beneficial based on the magnitude of the forces, leading to improved alignment, conduction velocity, and contractility. For disease modeling, we use hiPSC–derived cardiomyocytes from a patient with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) due to mutations in desmoplakin. We demonstrate that manifestation of this desmosome-linked disease state requires the dyn-EHT conditioning and that it cannot be induced using 2D or standard 3D EHT approaches. Thus, dynamic loading strategy is necessary to provoke a disease phenotype (diastolic lengthening, reduction of desmosome counts, and reduced contractility), which are akin to primary endpoints of clinical disease, such as chamber thinning and reduced cardiac output.Single Sentence SummaryDevelopment of a dynamic mechanical loading platform to improve contractile function of engineered heart tissues and study cardiac disease progression.

scholarly journals An aged human heart tissue model showing age-related molecular and functional deterioration resembling the native heart

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aylin Acun ◽  
Trung Dung Nguyen ◽  
Pinar Zorlutuna
Keyword(s):  
Human Heart ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
Tissue Model ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Ready Availability ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
And Function

AbstractDeaths attributed to ischemic heart disease increased by 41.7% from 1990 to 2013. This is primarily due to an increase in the aged population, however, research on cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been overlooking aging, a well-documented contributor to CVD. The field heavily depends on the use of young animals due to lower costs and ready availability, despite the prominent differences between young and aged heart structure and function. Here we present the first human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocyte (iCM)-based, in vitro aged myocardial tissue model as an alternative research platform. Within 4 months, iCMs go through accelerated senescence and show cellular characteristics of aging. Furthermore, the model tissues fabricated using these aged iCMs, with stiffness resembling that of aged human heart, show functional and pharmacological deterioration specific to aged myocardium. Our novel tissue model with age-appropriate physiology and pathology presents a promising new platform for investigating CVD or other age-related diseases.

scholarly journals Myofibrillar Structural Variability Underlies Contractile Function in Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Ufford ◽  
Sabrina Friedline ◽  
Zhaowen Tong ◽  
Vi T. Tang ◽  
Amani S. Dobbs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Contractile Function ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Intrinsic Variability ◽  
Elastic Substrates ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
The Impact

SummaryDisease modeling and pharmaceutical testing using cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC-CMs) requires accurate assessment of contractile function. Micropatterning iPSC-CMs on elastic substrates controls cell shape and alignment to enable contractile studies, but the determinants of intrinsic variability in this system have been incompletely characterized. The primary objective of this study was to determine the impact of myofibrillar structure on contractile function in iPSC-CMs. After labeling micropatterned iPSC-CMs with a cell permeant F-actin dye, we imaged both myofibrillar structure and contractile function. Using automated myofibrillar image analysis, we demonstrate that myofibrillar abundance is widely variable among individual iPSC-CMs and strongly correlates with contractile function. This variability is not reduced by subcloning from single iPSCs to reduce genetic heterogeneity, persists with two different iPSC-CM purification methods, and similarly is present for embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. This analysis provides compelling evidence that myofibrillar structure should be quantified and controlled for in studies investigating contractile function in iPSC-CMs.

scholarly journals Induced Pluripotency: A Powerful Tool for In Vitro Modeling

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romana Zahumenska ◽  
Vladimir Nosal ◽  
Marek Smolar ◽  
Terezia Okajcekova ◽  
Henrieta Skovierova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Testing ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Induced Pluripotency ◽  
Developmental Capacity ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

One of the greatest breakthroughs of regenerative medicine in this century was the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka. iPSCs originate from terminally differentiated somatic cells that have newly acquired the developmental capacity of self-renewal and differentiation into any cells of three germ layers. Before iPSCs can be used routinely in clinical practice, their efficacy and safety need to be rigorously tested; however, iPSCs have already become effective and fully-fledged tools for application under in vitro conditions. They are currently routinely used for disease modeling, preparation of difficult-to-access cell lines, monitoring of cellular mechanisms in micro- or macroscopic scales, drug testing and screening, genetic engineering, and many other applications. This review is a brief summary of the reprogramming process and subsequent differentiation and culture of reprogrammed cells into neural precursor cells (NPCs) in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) conditions. NPCs can be used as biomedical models for neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), which are currently considered to be one of the major health problems in the human population.

scholarly journals Applications of 3D Bioprinted-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Healthcare

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soja Saghar Soman ◽  
Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman
Keyword(s):  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Drug Efficacy ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Precision Oncology ◽  
Human Tissues ◽  
3D Bioprinting ◽  
3D Print ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and advancements in three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology enable scientists to reprogram somatic cells to iPSCs and 3D print iPSC-derived organ constructs with native tissue architecture and function. iPSCs and iPSC-derived cells suspended in hydrogels (bioinks) allow to print tissues and organs for downstream medical applications. The bioprinted human tissues and organs are extremely valuable in regenerative medicine as bioprinting of autologous iPSC-derived organs eliminates the risk of immune rejection with organ transplants. Disease modeling and drug screening in bioprinted human tissues will give more precise information on disease mechanisms, drug efficacy, and drug toxicity than experimenting on animal models. Bioprinted iPSC-derived cancer tissues will aid in the study of early cancer development and precision oncology to discover patient-specific drugs. In this review, we present a brief summary of the combined use of two powerful technologies, iPSC technology, and 3D bioprinting in health-care applications.

Abstract 156: Hydrogel Mattress, an in vitro Platform to Enhance Maturation and Evaluate Contractile Function of Individual hiPSC-CMs

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tromondae K Feaster ◽  
Charles H Williams ◽  
Adrian G Cadar ◽  
Young W Chun ◽  
Lili Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Contractile Function ◽  
Traction Force ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Contractile Properties ◽  
Calcium Handling ◽  
Cell Shortening ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have great potential as tools for human heart disease modeling and drug discovery. However, their contractile properties have not been routinely evaluated; as current methods are not accessible for most laboratories. We sought to develop a more efficient method to evaluate hiPSC-CM mechanical properties, at the single cell level. Individual hiPSC-CMs were cultured on a hydrogel based platform, termed the “hydrogel mattress,” and their cellular contractile properties evaluated using video-based edge detection. We found that hiPSC-CMs maintained on the mattress reproducibly exhibited robust cell shortening, in dramatic contrast to hiPSC-CMs maintained in a standard manner. We further found that contraction and peak cell shortening amplitude of hiPSC-CMs on mattress was comparable to that of freshly isolated adult ventricular mouse CM. Importantly, hiPSC-CMs maintained on the mattress exhibited several characteristics of a native CM, in terms of myocyte elongation, calcium handling and pharmacological response. Finally, using this platform, we could calculate the traction force generated by individual CMs. In summary, the Hydrogel mattress platform is a simple and reliable in vitro platform that not only enables the quantification of contractile performance of isolated hiPSC-CMs, but also enhances CM maturation. This flexible platform can be extended to in vitro disease modeling, drug discovery and cardiotoxicity testing.

scholarly journals Activation of AMPK Promotes Maturation of Cardiomyocytes Derived From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Ye ◽  
Xinyuan Zhang ◽  
Qin Zhou ◽  
Bin Tan ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protein Kinase ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Acid Oxidation ◽  
Mitochondrial Structure ◽  
Myocardial Structure ◽  
Energy Sensing ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
And Function ◽  
Amp Activated Protein Kinase

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) (hiPSC-CMs) are a promising cell source for disease modeling, myocardial regeneration, and drug assessment. However, hiPSC-CMs have certain immature fetal CM-like properties that are different from the characteristics of adult CMs in several aspects, including cellular structure, mitochondrial function, and metabolism, thus limiting their applications. Adenosine 5‘-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an energy-sensing protein kinase involved in the regulation of fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial biogenesis in cardiomyocytes. This study investigated the effects of AMPK on the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. Activation of AMPK in hiPSC-CMs significantly increased the expression of CM-specific markers and resulted in a more mature myocardial structure compared to that in the control cells. We found that activation of AMPK improved mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) and the oxygen consumption rate (OCR). Additionally, our data demonstrated that activation of AMPK increased mitochondrial fusion to promote the maturation of mitochondrial structure and function. Overall, activation of AMPK is an effective approach to promote hiPSC-CMs maturation, which may enhance the utility of hiPSC-CMs in clinical applications.

scholarly journals Scaffold-Mediated Developmental Effects on Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes Are Preserved After External Support Removal

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Li ◽  
Jong-Kook Lee ◽  
Keiko Miwa ◽  
Yuki Kuramoto ◽  
Kiyoshi Masuyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
External Support ◽  
Duration Of Action ◽  
Electrophysiological Properties ◽  
Structural Support ◽  
Molecular Features ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Developmental Features

Human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells have been used as a cell source for regenerative therapy and disease modeling. The purity of hiPS-cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs) has markedly improved with advancements in cell culture and differentiation protocols. However, the morphological features and molecular properties of the relatively immature cells are still unclear, which has hampered their clinical application. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which topographic substrates actively influence hiPS-CMs. hiPS-CMs were seeded on randomized oriented fiber substrate (random), anisotropic aligned fiber substrate (align), and flat non-scaffold substrate (flat). After culturing for one week, the hiPS-CMs on the aligned patterns showed more mature-like properties, including elongated rod shape, shorter duration of action potential, accelerated conduction velocity, and elevated cardiac gene expression. Subsequently, to determine whether this development was irreversible or was altered after withdrawal of the structural support, the hiPS-CMs were harvested from the three different patterns and reseeded on the non-scaffold (flat) pattern. After culturing for one more week, the improvements in morphological and functional properties diminished, although hiPS-CMs pre-cultured on the aligned pattern retained the molecular features of development, which were even more significant as compared to that observed during the pre-culture stage. Our results suggested that the anisotropic fiber substrate can induce the formation of geometrical mimic-oriented heart tissue in a short time. Although the morphological and electrophysiological properties of hiPS-CMs obtained via facilitated maturation somehow rely on the existence of an exterior scaffold, the molecular developmental features were preserved even in the absence of the external support, which might persist throughout hiPS-CM development.

scholarly journals Maturation strategies and limitations of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wu ◽  
Gang Deng ◽  
Xiyalatu Sai ◽  
Huiming Guo ◽  
Huanlei Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Clinical Applications ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
And Function ◽  
Promising Source ◽  
New Strategies ◽  
Human Heart Disease

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have the ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes (CMs). They are not only widely used in cardiac pharmacology screening, human heart disease modeling, and cell transplantation-based treatments, but also the most promising source of CMs for experimental and clinical applications. However, their use is largely restricted by the immature phenotype of structure and function, which is similar to embryonic or fetal CMs and has certain differences from adult CMs. In order to overcome this critical issue, many studies have explored and revealed new strategies to induce the maturity of iPSC-CMs. Therefore, this article aims to review recent induction methods of mature iPSC-CMs, related mechanisms, and limitations.

scholarly journals Toward the Effective Bioengineering of a Pathological Tissue for Cardiovascular Disease Modeling: Old Strategies and New Frontiers for Prevention, Diagnosis, and Therapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Iop
Keyword(s):  
Aortic Valve ◽  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Current Treatment ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Three Dimensional Modeling ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) still represent the primary cause of mortality worldwide. Preclinical modeling by recapitulating human pathophysiology is fundamental to advance the comprehension of these diseases and propose effective strategies for their prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. In silico, in vivo, and in vitro models have been applied to dissect many cardiovascular pathologies. Computational and bioinformatic simulations allow developing algorithmic disease models considering all known variables and severity degrees of disease. In vivo studies based on small or large animals have a long tradition and largely contribute to the current treatment and management of CVDs. In vitro investigation with two-dimensional cell culture demonstrates its suitability to analyze the behavior of single, diseased cellular types. The introduction of induced pluripotent stem cell technology and the application of bioengineering principles raised the bar toward in vitro three-dimensional modeling by enabling the development of pathological tissue equivalents. This review article intends to describe the advantages and disadvantages of past and present modeling approaches applied to provide insights on some of the most relevant congenital and acquired CVDs, such as rhythm disturbances, bicuspid aortic valve, cardiac infections and autoimmunity, cardiovascular fibrosis, atherosclerosis, and calcific aortic valve stenosis.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document