TGFβ1 contributes to cardiomyogenic-like differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Background: The majority of the protocols for cardiomyocyte differentiation of MSC use 5-azacytidine as an inducer. As transforming growth factor beta 1 and 5-azacytidine share similar target signaling pathways, we examined whether transforming growth factor beta 1 can play a role in cardiac differentiation process in human mesenchymal stem cell of bone marrow origin. Methods: The differentiation protocol involving transforming growth factor beta 1 was compared with that of 5-azacytidine in these cells. The two differentiation regimes were compared using reverse transcriptase PCR, flow cytometry, and quantitative PCR. Results: We observed that in both cases, acquired morphological features were similar. Protein and gene expression assays also indicated similar cardiac marker expression profile in both the differentiation conditions. Furthermore, transforming growth factor beta 1 and 5-azacytidine allowed the acquisition of comparable levels of cardiac cell like molecular characteristic as attested by evaluation of myosin light chain-2v expression. Conclusion: In conclusion, we demonstrate that transforming growth factor beta 1 can play a similar role in cardiac differentiation process of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.