Yocyte genes which include -MyHC and ANP. Similarly, addition of FGF-2, BMP-2, and combinations of both evoked an expression of cTnI (Fig. 1C) along with a limited set of cardiac marker genes such as Nkx-2.five and GATA-4 in mBM-MASC1 and mBM-MASC2 (data not shown). According to the individual experiment, in between 8 and 15 (n = 7) of mesenchymal adult stem cells (MASCs) stained optimistic for either Nkx-2.5 or GATA-4. Yet, close inspection of cTnI-positive cells revealed a extremely aberrant cellular morphology (i.e., no crossstriations, flat shape, irregular size) that was not characteristic of IL-12R beta 2 Proteins medchemexpress cardiomyocytes (Fig. 1C). Moreover, we by no means spotted cells with an organized contractile apparatus or cells that underwent spontaneous contractions, which are hallmarks of functional cardiac muscle cells. We did not observe an initiation with the cardiac and skeletal muscle program in mBM-MASCs when cells have been treated with conditioned medium from Wnt-expressing cells (information not shown), indicating that either direct cell-to-cell contacts are essential or that the