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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 49: Posters - Cell Mechanics and Migration & Physics of Cancer
BP 49.18: Poster
Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 17:00–19:00, Poster C
Contractility of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes on micropatterned substrates of different stiffnesses — •Til Driehorst1,2, Malte Tiburcy2, Wolfram Hubertus Zimmermann2, and Christoph Friedrich Schmidt1 — 1Drittes Physikalisches Institut, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen — 2Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Göttingen
Human induced pluripotent stem cells can be differentiated into cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM). This method can be used for high-throughput generation of cardiomyocytes for basic research. hiPSC-CM also hold great promise for in-vitro pharmacologic testing and studies of different illnesses such as arrhythmias. However, these cells remain in a somewhat immature, embryo-like state. This lack of maturity is thought to be partly due to missing biochemical and physical stimuli in currently used culture formats. Here, we have studied the basic sarcomeric contractility of hiPSC-CM in order to gain insight into the behavior of isolated CMs, and to also understand the intercellular mechanical coupling between myocytes. We applied methods of microcontact printing to shape the CMs to physiological aspect ratios (~7:1) on elastic substrates of various stiffnesses. We then transfected the cells with an ACTN2-Citrine construct to visualize the z-bands in the living mycoytes. Exploiting high-speed confocal microscopy, we recorded the sarcomeric motion of hiPSC-CM at high frame rates and applied statistical algorithms to characterize this motion and investigate the coupling between cells in close proximity.