Table 3.

In Vitro Cardiac Differentiation of Amniotic Fluid-Derived Stem Cell

Method	Length of culture (days)	Result	References
Human AFSC and NRVM coculture, 1:4 ratio	10	5% of AFSC displayed cTnI protein expression and sarcomere banding; bi-nucleated cells observed	47
Human AFSC and NRVM coculture, 1:10 ratio	7 or 10	Functional gap junctions observed; Some cells observed to express human mitochondria as well as cTnT or α-actinin	48,50
Rat AFSC and NRVM coculture, 1:4 ratio	9	Cardiac differentiation observed in 3.5% to 16% of AFSC, determined by sarcomeric α-actinin, myosin heavy chain, cTnT, or cTnI protein expression; bi-nucleated cells observed	46,52
Cardiomyogenic differentiation medium	15	No differentiation observed	47,52
NRVM-conditioned medium	10	No differentiation observed	46,47,52
10 μM 5-aza-2′deoxycytidine for 24 h	10	Increased cTnI and cTnT gene expression; decreased Sox2 gene expression; no mature sarcomeres or beating cells	48

NRVM, neonatal rat ventricular myocytes; cTnI, cardiac troponin I; cTnT–cardiac troponin T.