Cardiac Action Potential Measurement in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Cardiomyocytes for Cardiac Safety Studies Using Manual Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Abstract

Human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes present numerous advantages over isolated primary cardiac cells or tissues to study action potential (AP) prolongation by drug candidates for cardiac safety studies. Human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hSC-CMs) express ionic channels that underlie cardiac action potentials and exhibit typical electrophysiological and mechanical characteristics of native human cardiomyocytes. Here, we demonstrate that the hSC-CMs are optimal for assessing dl-sotalol-and quinidine-induced action potential repolarization delay and nifedipine-induced shortening of action potential repolarization, and thus hSC-CMs exhibit the required electrophysiological and pharmacological profile at the cellular level.