Summary
Published in Current Protocols in Human Genetics (2017), this peer-reviewed study used 3D Petri Dish® micro-molds to form scaffold-free 3D microtissues. Full citation: Giacomelli, Elisa, et al. Co‐Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells‐Derived Cardiomyocytes and Endothelial Cells from Cardiac Mesoderm Provides a Three‐Dimensional Model of Cardiac Microtissue
Co‐Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells‐Derived Cardiomyocytes and Endothelial Cells from Cardiac Mesoderm Provides a Three‐Dimensional Model of Cardiac Microtissue
Research Overview
Heart development specifies cardiac cell types in a tightly regulated sequence, and human pluripotent stem cells let researchers study those fate choices directly. This protocol describes co-differentiation of cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells from cardiac mesoderm, including precise steps for enriching each population from heterogeneous cultures, maintaining and dissociating enriched cardiomyocytes, and expanding and cryopreserving enriched endothelial cells.
Generating cardiac endothelial cells alongside cardiomyocytes enables complex cardiovascular disease models in which either cell type carries the disease genotype — plus protocols for assembling the enriched populations into three-dimensional culture.
Key Discoveries
- Protocol co-differentiates cardiomyocytes and cardiac endothelial cells from a common mesoderm
- Includes enrichment, dissociation, expansion, and cryopreservation steps for each population
- Enables cardiovascular disease models where either cell type carries the genotype
