Figure 1. Differences in energy metabolism between iPS cells and cardiomyocytes. Although iPS cells use both glucose and glutamine as their main energy sources, cardiomyocytes additionally use lactate as an energy source. In a culture medium lacking glucose and glutamine but containing lactic acid, only cardiomyocytes can survive, whereas undifferentiated iPS cells and non-cardiomyocytes cannot. Thus, cardiomyocytes can be purified.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of regenerative cardiomyocyte transplantation. The engraftment rate of post-transplantation cardiomyocytes was significantly improved by directly transplanting human iPS cell-derived regenerated ventricular cardiomyocyte clusters (cardiomyocyte spheroid) into the left ventricular wall using a special transplantation needle.
