Abstract: Objective To observe whether human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) could differentiate into cardiomyo-like cells by culturing with supernatant of normal or injured rat cardiomyocytes (CMs) in vitro. Methods hMSCs were cultured with supernatant from normal or injured rat CMs for 27~30 d. The morphologies of induced hMSCs were observed with inverted microscope and the special cardio-markers cTnI and Desmin were identified with immunocytochemisry. Results A few cells cultured with supernatant from normal CMs enlarged and expressed cTnI, but little Desmin. While more cells cultured with supernatant from injured CMs enlarged and expressed cTnI, and parts of them expressed Desmin. The incidence of cTnI or Desmin positive cells were significantly different between these two groups (P<0.01). Conclusion Supernatant from both normal and injured CMs can induce hMSCs into cardio-like cells in vitro, and that from injured CMs is more effectively.

Key words: human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), cardiomyo-like cells, differentiation, cTnI, Desmin