Directed Fusion of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Cardiomyocytes via VSV-G Facilitates Stem Cell Programming

Figure 4

Fusion of VSV-G-expressing human mesenchymal stem cells (donor) with cardiomyocytes (host) in vivo. (a) Fluorescence in situ hybridization with species-specific centromeric probes to detect fusion products in the murine myocardium. Human MSCs (red), mouse cells (green), all nuclei (blue), and fusion products (FP; red and green signal in the same nucleus) are found within the border and TM regions, while typically only mouse cells are found in the myocardium, “myo.” Insets display (b) human (arrow) and mouse (arrowhead) cells, (c) representative fusion product, and (d) fusion product undergoing anaphase, indicative of proliferation.