Patent ID: 8293529

Claim:
A method for inducing differentiation of cardiomyocytes from mammalian pluripotent stem cells, which comprises: i) culturing the mammalian pluripotent stem cells in a culture medium containing no substance that promotes activation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway during the time period between initiation of differentiation induction and 24 hours before the period of elevated canonical Wnt gene expression; and then ii) culturing the mammalian pluripotent stem cells in a culture medium containing a substance that promotes activation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway during a time period of 24 to 96 hours, starting from 24 to 0 hours before the period of elevated canonical Wnt gene expression, wherein the substance that promotes activation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway is a substance selected from the group consisting of a canonical Wnt protein, a GSK3β inhibitor, and a Wnt agonist.