TY - JOUR
T1 - Differentiation of human adult cardiac stem cells exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields
AU - Gaetani, Roberto
AU - Ledda, Mario
AU - Barile, Lucio
AU - Chimenti, Isotta
AU - De Carlo, Flavia
AU - Forte, Elvira
AU - Ionta, Vittoria
AU - Giuliani, Livio
AU - D'Emilia, Enrico
AU - Frati, Giacomo
AU - Miraldi, Fabio
AU - Pozzi, Deleana
AU - Messina, Elisa
AU - Grimaldi, Settimio
AU - Giacomello, Alessandro
AU - Lisi, Antonella
PY - 2009/6
Y1 - 2009/6
N2 - AimsModulation of cardiac stem cell (CSC) differentiation with minimal manipulation is one of the main goals of clinical applicability of cell therapy for heart failure. CSCs, obtained from human myocardial bioptic specimens and grown as cardiospheres (CSps) and cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs), can engraft and partially regenerate the infarcted myocardium, as previously described. In this paper we assessed the hypothesis that exposure of CSps and CDCs to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs), tuned at Ca 2+ ion cyclotron energy resonance (Ca2+-ICR), may drive their differentiation towards a cardiac-specific phenotype.Methods and resultsA significant increase in the expression of cardiac markers was observed after 5 days of exposure to Ca2+-ICR in both human CSps and CDCs, as evidenced at transcriptional, translational, and phenotypical levels. Ca 2+ mobilization among intracellular storages was observed and confirmed by compartmentalized analysis of Ca2+ fluorescent probes.ConclusionsThese results suggest that ELF-EMFs tuned at Ca 2+-ICR could be used to drive cardiac-specific differentiation in adult cardiac progenitor cells without any pharmacological or genetic manipulation of the cells that will be used for therapeutic purposes.
AB - AimsModulation of cardiac stem cell (CSC) differentiation with minimal manipulation is one of the main goals of clinical applicability of cell therapy for heart failure. CSCs, obtained from human myocardial bioptic specimens and grown as cardiospheres (CSps) and cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs), can engraft and partially regenerate the infarcted myocardium, as previously described. In this paper we assessed the hypothesis that exposure of CSps and CDCs to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs), tuned at Ca 2+ ion cyclotron energy resonance (Ca2+-ICR), may drive their differentiation towards a cardiac-specific phenotype.Methods and resultsA significant increase in the expression of cardiac markers was observed after 5 days of exposure to Ca2+-ICR in both human CSps and CDCs, as evidenced at transcriptional, translational, and phenotypical levels. Ca 2+ mobilization among intracellular storages was observed and confirmed by compartmentalized analysis of Ca2+ fluorescent probes.ConclusionsThese results suggest that ELF-EMFs tuned at Ca 2+-ICR could be used to drive cardiac-specific differentiation in adult cardiac progenitor cells without any pharmacological or genetic manipulation of the cells that will be used for therapeutic purposes.
KW - Ca ion cyclotron resonance
KW - Cardiac regenerative medicine
KW - Clinical translation protocols
KW - ELF-EMF
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U2 - 10.1093/cvr/cvp067
DO - 10.1093/cvr/cvp067
M3 - Article
C2 - 19228705
AN - SCOPUS:66249112518
VL - 82
SP - 411
EP - 420
JO - Cardiovascular Research
JF - Cardiovascular Research
SN - 0008-6363
IS - 3
ER -