Pacemaker cell characteristics of differentiated and HCN4-transduced human mesenchymal stem cells

Cell-based biological pacemakers aim to overcome limitations and side effects of electronic pacemaker devices. We here developed and tested different approaches to achieve nodal-type differentiation using human adipose- and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (haMSC, hbMSC). haMSC and hbMSC were differentiated using customized protocols. Quantitative RT-PCR was applied for transcriptional pacemaker-gene profiling. Protein membrane...