The mechanistic role of connexin 43 in maturation of hiPSC cardiomyocytes
Authors: Wiersma S , Meraviglia V , Mummery C L , Campostrini G , Bellin M 
Published: May 2024

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): ECR (European research council) and ReNew (the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine supported by Novo Nordisk Foundation grants)

Introduction

Cardiomyocytes (CMs) differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are functionally immature and this limits the application of these cells to cardiovascular research. Maturation can be improved by aggregating hiPSC-CMs into three-dimensional (3D) microtissues together with hiPSC-cardiac fibroblasts (hiPSC-CFs) and hiPSC-endothelial cells (hiPSC-ECs). These cardiac microtissues showed improved structural (increase of sarcomere length and organisation) and functional (more mature action potential profile) properties. This effect was only observed when the cardiac microtissues contained hiPSC-CFs. Since connexin 43 (CX43), the most ubiquitous connexin isoform in the heart, was significantly upregulated in hiPSC-CMs from cardiac microtissues, we hypothesise that mechanisms underlying hiPSC-CMs maturation involves the coupling of hiPSC-CMs with hiPSC-CFs through this protein.

Purpose

The aim of this study is to unravel the role of CX43 in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs in the context of 3D multicellular cardiac tissues.

Methods

We used the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to generate a CX43 knock-out (KO) hiPSC line. We designed two sgRNAs annealing to exon 2 of GJA1 gene, encoding CX43; indels generated by the non-homologous end joining after the Cas9 double strand break will result in a non-functional protein. Cells were differentiated in vitro into CMs, epicardial cells (EPI) and then CFs and characterized for the expression of cell-specific markers and compared with the wild-type parental control cells.

Results and conclusions

We screened 31 hiPSC clones and selected those in which both GJA1 alleles contained a deletion. Copy number variation analysis by ddPCR of the flanking regions confirmed that the deletion was specific and confined. The lack of GJA1 expression in the KO clones was confirmed by qPCR, while the lack of the CX43 protein was confirmed by immunofluorescence and Western Blot. This did not affect CX43-KO hiPSCs pluripotency state shown by the presence of pluripotent markers such as NANOG, OCT3/4, SSEA4. Additionally, CX43-KO hiPSCs were able to differentiate into the three germ layers. CX43-KO hiPSCs were successfully differentiated into hiPSC-CMs, -EPI, and -CFs. CX43-KO hiPSC-CMs and controls showed comparable gene expression of cardiac troponin T. Since immunofluorescent staining showed that CX43-KO hiPSC-EPI expressed the epicardial markers WT1 and ZO1, we continued to differentiate them into hiPSC-CFs, which expressed markers such as VIM and COL1A1, similar to the control. Differentiated CX43-KO hiPSC-CMs and CFs will be assembled into cardiac microtissues. Functional and structural assays that include patch-clamp and immunofluorescence will be performed on these microtissue to assess the effect of the CX43 KO on the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. Our results show that the lack of CX43 expression does not impede hiPSCs to differentiate into various cell types originating from the mesoderm germ layer.