Functional characterization of cardiomyocytes derived from murine induced pluripotent stem cells in vitro.

Several types of terminally differentiated somatic cells can be reprogrammed into a pluripotent state by ectopic expression of Klf4, Oct3/4, Sox2, and c-Myc. Such induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have great potential to serve as an autologous source of cells for tissue repair. In the process of developing iPS-cell-based therapies, the major goal is to determine whether differentiated cells derived from iPS cells, such as cardiomyocytes (CMs), have the same functional properties as their physiological in vivo counterparts.