Establishment of A Protocol for In Vitro Culture of Cardiogenic Mesodermal Cells Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Objective: Cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPCs) are introduced as one of the promising cell sources for preclinical studies and regenerative medicine. One of the earliest type of CPCs is cardiogenic mesoderm cells (CMCs), which have the capability to generate all types of cardiac lineage derivatives. In order to benefit from CMCs, development of an efficient culture strategy is required. We aim to explore an optimized culture condition that uses human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived CMCs. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, hESCs were expanded and induced toward cardiac lineage in a suspension culture. Mesoderm posterior 1-positive (MESP1^+) CMCs were subjected to four different culture conditions: i. Suspension culture of CMC spheroids, ii. Adherent culture of CMC spheroids, iii. Adherent culture of single CMCs using gelatin, and iv. Adherent culture of single CMCs using Matrigel. Results: Although, we observed no substantial changes in the percentage of MESP1^+ cells in different culture conditions, there were significantly higher viability and total cell numbers in CMCs cultured on Matrigel (condition iv) compared to the other groups. CMCs cultivated on Matrigel maintained their progenitor cell signature, which included the tendency for cardiogenic differentiation. Conclusion: These results showed the efficacy of an adherent culture on Matrigel for hESC-derived CMCs, which would facilitate their use for future applications.