Mitochondrial DNA Hypomethylation Is a Biomarker Associated with Induced Senescence in Human Fetal Heart Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Figure 1

Characterization of human fetal heart-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HMSCs). (a) The profile of stem cell markers in cultured HMSCs. Immunophenotypes of MSCs were determined by flow cytometry using labeled antibodies specific for the indicated human surface antigens. (b) Differentiation potential of HMSCs. Cells were stained by Alizarin Red for calcium deposits during osteogenic differentiation. Adipogenic differentiation was detected by Oil Red O staining (200x). (c) The “molecular memory of cardiac origin” of HMSCs. Left panel: schematic diagram of the published cardiac stem cell pathways [4–8]. Right panel: expression of pathway genes in HMSCs. Total RNAs were isolated from HMSCs for RNA-Seq using a HiSeq4000 (Illumina). Colors represent from high (red) to low (blue) expression based on normalized FPKM values for each gene.

(a) Biomarkers in HMSCs

(b) Differentiation of HMSCs

(c) Cardiac pathway genes