Abstract Abstract To explore the plasticity of human amniotic mesenchymal cells (hAMCs) into cardiomyocyte-like cells. hAMCs were isolated from human amnion with collagenase digestion. Phenotype of the isolated cells was analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). hAMCs were treated with 5-azacytidine and basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) to investigate their ability of differentiation into cardiomyocytes. The induced differentiated cells were evaluated by immunofluorescence for desmin and α-actinin expression and by RT-PCR for Nkx2.5, GATA-4 and alpha-myosin heavy chain (α-MHC) mRNA expression. The results showed that, after primary culture, hAMCs could reach a confluence of 80% with swirl like growth at 6 days. The cells proliferated rapidly by passaged with a 100% confluence at 3~4 d. hAMCs was positive expression of CD44 and vimentin, but negative for CK19. After induced differentiation at 8~10 days, the differentiated cells have close-up arranged with long spindle-shape. At 2 weeks and 4 weeks, induced cells expressed α-actinin and cardiac-specific transcription factor Nkx2.5. Expression of GATA-4 and desmin can be detected but α-MHC can not both in before and after induced hAMCs. In conclusion, hAMCs have a ability of differentiation into cardiomyocyte-like cells which mean that hAMCs can be regarded as candidate cells for cellular cardiomyoplasty (CCM).
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