Abstract: Objective To establishment a defined three-dimensional culture system of cardiomyocytes from mouse embryonic stem cell-derived embryoid bodies (EBs). Methods The EBs were derived from mES by suspending culture and were plated to Matrigel? Matrix three-dimensional system. The mouse fibroblast cells served as negative control to identify genes expression of contracting EBs. Results The first beating was irregular after 5 days of culture, but became consistent after 3 days with at an average frequency of 80-100 beats per minute. mES expressed cardiac specific protein of cTnT，Desmin and Actin. The expression of genes associated cardiomyocytes differentiation as cTnT, NKX2E, GATA-4 and MLC-2v were detected by RT-PCR. Conclusion By using the Matrigel? three-dimensional system, mES-derived EBs could spontaneously differentiate to cardiomyocytes effectively, and possess necessary biological characters of cardiomyocytes .

Key words: Mouse embryonic stem(mES) cell, Embryoid Bodies(EBs), Differentiation, Cardiomyocytes