Doubling stem cell chromosomes produces heart cells with stronger, faster contractions

by Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science

edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Add to Preferred Sources Normal iPS cells are diploid, and cardiomyocytes derived from these diploid iPS cells mostly remain diploid. Consequently, they cannot replicate the tetraploidization of cardiomyocytes that occurs during maturation in the human body. To address this issue, this study generated cardiomyocytes with doubled chromosomes by first tetraploidizing the iPS cells themselves via cell fusion, and then differentiating them into cardiomyocytes. As expected, the tetraploid iPS cell–derived cardiomyocytes exhibited more mature characteristics. Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science The Regenerative Medicine Project at our institute is advancing therapeutic strategies for various diseases by introducing a range of modifications to human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.