Logistic complexities of heart transplantation embossed the necessity of utilizing novel methods, which enable heart regeneration. Human cardiosphere-derived cells (hCDCs) are taken into consideration as a promising cell resource in cell therapy in recent years. In this study, we designed an electrochemical stimulation system, which sends square pulses to the hCDCs and records their electrical response. Morphology, viability and differentiation of hCDCs are monitored at certain time courses of the treatment. Differentiating hCDCs aligned perpendicularly with respect to the direction of applied electric current, and obtained a spindle-like morphology, while they remained viable. At the same time, specific cardiac marker genes including GATA4, cTnT and α-MHC showed a considerable up-regulation. Our findings confirm that hCDCs differentiate to committed cardiomyocytes when hCDCs receive an electrical energy of 0.06 - 0.12 Wh. This amount of electrical energy could be applied to the stem cells using versatile electrical stimulation patterns via commercially available devices.

中文翻译：

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电刺激诱导人心球来源的细胞（hCDC）分化为定型的心肌细胞。

心脏移植的后勤复杂性凸显了利用新颖方法使心脏再生的必要性。近年来，人心球来源的细胞（hCDC）被认为是细胞治疗中有希望的细胞资源。在这项研究中，我们设计了一个电化学刺激系统，该系统将方形脉冲发送到hCDC，并记录其电响应。在治疗的某些时间过程中监测hCDC的形态，生存力和分化。区分hCDC相对于施加电流的方向垂直对齐，并获得纺锤状的形态，同时它们仍然可行。同时，包括GATA4，cTnT和α-MHC在内的特定心脏标志物基因显示出明显的上调。我们的发现证实，当hCDC接受0.06-0.12 Wh的电能时，hCDC会分化为定型的心肌细胞。可以通过市售设备使用通用的电刺激模式将这种电能施加到干细胞上。