Mouse ES cell–derived cardiac precursor cells are multipotent and facilitate identification of novel cardiac genes
J. Clin. Invest. Nicolas Christoforou, et al. 118:894 doi:10.1172/JCI33942 [Go to this article.]

Figure 4
Differentiation capacity and differentiation efficiency of mES cell–derived CPCs. FACS-sorted CPCs were cultured for 7 days in high serum culture medium (condition I), no serum culture medium (condition II), or high serum culture medium plus VEGF (condition III). (A) RT-PCR analysis on RNA isolated from FAC sorted and differentiated CPCs. Transcripts analyzed included cardiac markers Nkx2-5, Isl1, Flk1, Myocd, Mef2c, Gata4, Myl4, and Tnnt2; smooth muscle markers Acta2 and Myh11; endothelial marker Cdh5; stem cell markers Kit and Nanog; skeletal muscle marker Myod1; hepatic marker Afp; and the positive control marker Gapdh. Temporally matched FACS-sorted and differentiated GFP^– mES cells expressed high levels of ES cell markers Pou5f1 (not shown) and Nanog. (B) Efficiency of GFP⁺ CPC and GFP^– cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes (Actn1), smooth muscle cells (Acta2), and endothelial cells (Cd31) as assayed by FACS analysis.