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Kriedemann N, Manstein F, Hernandez-Bautista CA, Ullmann K, Triebert W, Franke A, Mertens M, Stein ICAP, Leffler A, Witte M, Askurava T, Fricke V, Gruh I, Piep B, Kowalski K, Kraft T, Zweigerdt R. Protein-free media for cardiac differentiation of hPSCs in 2000 mL suspension culture. Stem Cell Res Ther 2024; 15:213. [PMID: 39020441 PMCID: PMC11256493 DOI: 10.1186/s13287-024-03826-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Commonly used media for the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) contain high concentrations of proteins, in particular albumin, which is prone to quality variations and presents a substantial cost factor, hampering the clinical translation of in vitro-generated cardiomyocytes for heart repair. To overcome these limitations, we have developed chemically defined, entirely protein-free media based on RPMI, supplemented with L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (AA-2P) and either the non-ionic surfactant Pluronic F-68 or a specific polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). METHODS AND RESULTS Both media compositions enable the efficient, directed differentiation of embryonic and induced hPSCs, matching the cell yields and cardiomyocyte purity ranging from 85 to 99% achieved with the widely used protein-based CDM3 medium. The protein-free differentiation approach was readily up-scaled to a 2000 mL process scale in a fully controlled stirred tank bioreactor in suspension culture, producing > 1.3 × 109 cardiomyocytes in a single process run. Transcriptome analysis, flow cytometry, electrophysiology, and contractile force measurements revealed that the mass-produced cardiomyocytes differentiated in protein-free medium exhibit the expected ventricular-like properties equivalent to the well-established characteristics of CDM3-control cells. CONCLUSIONS This study promotes the robustness and upscaling of the cardiomyogenic differentiation process, substantially reduces media costs, and provides an important step toward the clinical translation of hPSC-CMs for heart regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nils Kriedemann
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany.
| | - Felix Manstein
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
- Evotec SE, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Carlos A Hernandez-Bautista
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Kevin Ullmann
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Wiebke Triebert
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
- Evotec SE, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Annika Franke
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Mira Mertens
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | | | - Andreas Leffler
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Merlin Witte
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Tamari Askurava
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Veronika Fricke
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Ina Gruh
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Birgit Piep
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Physiology, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Kathrin Kowalski
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Physiology, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Theresia Kraft
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Physiology, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Robert Zweigerdt
- Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO)Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG)REBIRTH - Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany.
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Rapöhn M, Cyganek L, Voigt N, Hasenfuß G, Lehnart SE, Wegener JW. Noninvasive analysis of contractility during identical maturations revealed two phenotypes in ventricular but not in atrial iPSC-CM. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2024; 326:H599-H611. [PMID: 38180453 PMCID: PMC11221812 DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00527.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be differentiated into atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes to allow for personalized drug screening. A hallmark of differentiation is the manifestation of spontaneous beating in a two-dimensional (2-D) cell culture. However, an outstanding observation is the high variability in this maturation process. We valued that contractile parameters change during differentiation serving as an indicator of maturation. Consequently, we recorded noninvasively spontaneous motion activity during the differentiation of male iPSC toward iPSC cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) to further analyze similar maturated iPSC-CMs. Surprisingly, our results show that identical differentiations into ventricular iPSC-CMs are variable with respect to contractile parameters resulting in two distinct subpopulations of ventricular-like cells. In contrast, differentiation into atrial iPSC-CMs resulted in only one phenotype. We propose that the noninvasive and cost-effective recording of contractile activity during maturation using a smartphone device may help to reduce the variability in results frequently reported in studies on ventricular iPSC-CMs.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) exhibits a high variability in mature parameters. Here, we monitored noninvasively contractile parameters of iPSC-CM during full-time differentiation using a smartphone device. Our results show that parallel maturations of iPSCs into ventricular iPSC-CMs, but not into atrial iPSC-CMs, resulted in two distinct subpopulations of iPSC-CMs. These findings suggest that our cost-effective method may help to compare iPSC-CMs at the same maturation level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcel Rapöhn
- Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology, University Medical Center of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lukas Cyganek
- Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology, University Medical Center of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung), Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells," University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Niels Voigt
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung), Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells," University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Gerd Hasenfuß
- Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology, University Medical Center of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung), Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stephan E Lehnart
- Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology, University Medical Center of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung), Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: From Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells," University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jörg W Wegener
- Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology, University Medical Center of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung), Göttingen, Germany
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Butler AS, Ascione R, Marrion NV, Harmer SC, Hancox JC. In situ monolayer patch clamp of acutely stimulated human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes promotes consistent electrophysiological responses to SK channel inhibition. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3185. [PMID: 38326449 PMCID: PMC10850090 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53571-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) represent an in vitro model of cardiac function. Isolated iPSC-CMs, however, exhibit electrophysiological heterogeneity which hinders their utility in the study of certain cardiac currents. In the healthy adult heart, the current mediated by small conductance, calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels (ISK) is atrial-selective. Functional expression of ISK within atrial-like iPSC-CMs has not been explored thoroughly. The present study therefore aimed to investigate atrial-like iPSC-CMs as a model system for the study of ISK. iPSCs were differentiated using retinoic acid (RA) to produce iPSC-CMs which exhibited an atrial-like phenotype (RA-iPSC-CMs). Only 18% of isolated RA-iPSC-CMs responded to SK channel inhibition by UCL1684 and isolated iPSC-CMs exhibited substantial cell-to-cell electrophysiological heterogeneity. This variability was significantly reduced by patch clamp of RA-iPSC-CMs in situ as a monolayer (iPSC-ML). A novel method of electrical stimulation was developed to facilitate recording from iPSC-MLs via In situ Monolayer Patch clamp of Acutely Stimulated iPSC-CMs (IMPASC). Using IMPASC, > 95% of iPSC-MLs could be paced at a 1 Hz. In contrast to isolated RA-iPSC-CMs, 100% of RA-iPSC-MLs responded to UCL1684, with APD50 being prolonged by 16.0 ± 2.0 ms (p < 0.0001; n = 12). These data demonstrate that in conjunction with IMPASC, RA-iPSC-MLs represent an improved model for the study of ISK. IMPASC may be of wider value in the study of other ion channels that are inconsistently expressed in isolated iPSC-CMs and in pharmacological studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S Butler
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Raimondo Ascione
- Bristol Heart Institute and Translational Biomedical Research Centre, Faculty of Health Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS2 8HW, UK
| | - Neil V Marrion
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Stephen C Harmer
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK.
| | - Jules C Hancox
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK.
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