Mesenchymal stem cell-cardiomyocyte interactions under defined contact modes on laser-patterned biochips.

TitleMesenchymal stem cell-cardiomyocyte interactions under defined contact modes on laser-patterned biochips.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsMa Z, Yang H, Liu H, Xu M, Runyan RB, Eisenberg CA, Markwald RR, Borg TK, Gao BZ
JournalPLoS One
Volume8
Issue2
Paginatione56554
Date Published2013
ISSN1932-6203
KeywordsAnimals, Animals, Newborn, Cell Communication, Cell Fusion, Cell Membrane, Cell Tracking, Cells, Cultured, Coculture Techniques, Fluorescent Dyes, Immunohistochemistry, Indoles, Intercellular Junctions, Lasers, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Microscopy, Confocal, Microscopy, Fluorescence, Mitochondria, Myocytes, Cardiac, Rats, Reproducibility of Results, Single-Cell Analysis
Abstract

Understanding how stem cells interact with cardiomyocytes is crucial for cell-based therapies to restore the cardiomyocyte loss that occurs during myocardial infarction and other cardiac diseases. It has been thought that functional myocardial repair and regeneration could be regulated by stem cell-cardiomyocyte contact. However, because various contact modes (junction formation, cell fusion, partial cell fusion, and tunneling nanotube formation) occur randomly in a conventional coculture system, the particular regulation corresponding to a specific contact mode could not be analyzed. In this study, we used laser-patterned biochips to define cell-cell contact modes for systematic study of contact-mediated cellular interactions at the single-cell level. The results showed that the biochip design allows defined stem cell-cardiomyocyte contact-mode formation, which can be used to determine specific cellular interactions, including electrical coupling, mechanical coupling, and mitochondria transfer. The biochips will help us gain knowledge of contact-mediated interactions between stem cells and cardiomyocytes, which are fundamental for formulating a strategy to achieve stem cell-based cardiac tissue regeneration.

DOI10.1371/journal.pone.0056554
Alternate JournalPLoS One
PubMed ID23418583
PubMed Central IDPMC3572044
Grant List5K25HL088262-04 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States
P20RR021949 / RR / NCRR NIH HHS / United States
5R01 HL085847 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States
R01 HL085847 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States
K25 HL088262 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States
P20 RR021949 / RR / NCRR NIH HHS / United States