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Women's College Hospital

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Developmental Biology

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Functional Cardiomyocyte-like Cells

Peter Szaraz^*1,2, Yarden S. Gratch^*1, Farwah Iqbal^1,2, Clifford L. Librach^1,2,3,4,5

¹Create Fertility Centre, ²Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, ³Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toronto, ⁴Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, ⁵Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women's College Hospital

Here, we present a method to efficiently harness the cardiac differentiation potential of young sources of human mesenchymal stem cells in order to generate functional, contracting, cardiomyocyte-like cells in vitro.

Developmental Biology

The Aortic Ring Co-culture Assay: A Convenient Tool to Assess the Angiogenic Potential of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells In Vitro

Farwah Iqbal^1,2, Yarden S. Gratch¹, Peter Szaraz^1,2, Clifford L. Librach^1,2,3,4,5

¹Create Fertility Centre, ²Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, ³Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toronto, ⁴Department of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, ⁵Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women's College Hospital

Here, we present a novel application of the aortic ring assay where prelabelled mesenchymal cells are co-cultured with rat aorta-derived endothelial networks. This novel method allows visualization of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) homing and integration with endothelial networks, quantification of network properties, and evaluation of MSC immunophenotypes and gene expression.