Current strategies and challenges for purification of cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells

Cardiomyocytes (CM_s) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC_s) are considered a most promising option for cell-based cardiac repair. Hence, various protocols have been developed for differentiating hPSC_s into CM_s. Despite remarkable improvement in the generation of hPSC-CM_s, without purification, these protocols can only generate mixed cell populations including undifferentiated hPSCs or non-CM_s, which may elicit adverse outcomes. Therefore, one of the major challenges for clinical use of hPSC-CM_s is the development of efficient isolation techniques that allow enrichment of hPSC-CM_s. In this review, we will discuss diverse strategies that have been developed to enrich hPSC-CM_s. We will describe major characteristics of individual hPSC-CM purification methods including their scientific principles, advantages, limitations, and needed improvements. Development of a comprehensive system which can enrich hPSC-CM_s will be ultimately useful for cell therapy for diseased hearts, human cardiac disease modeling, cardiac toxicity screening, and cardiac tissue engineering.