To rule out non-specific effects of depolarization and determine whether control of transmembrane potential is an instructive, bi-directional determinant of differentiation trajectory, we next asked whether hyperpolarization affected differentiation.
If Vmem is a true determinant of differentiation potential, as has been suggested [43], hyperpolarization ought to have the reverse effect of depolarization and thus induce differentiation.
Because hyperpolarization treatments caused an opposite effect to the depolarization treatments (depolarization suppresses differentiation, while hyperpolarization increases differentiation), our data support a view of membrane potential as an instructive determinant of differentiation state.
Crucially, our functional results show that the relationship between depolarization and an undifferentiated state is not merely a correlation but rather that transmembrane potential is a functional determinant of differentiation state in hMSCs.
Because this critical role can be disrupted by the opposing effects of AHR repression, inhibition, or ligand-mediated activation, it is reasonable to conclude that the level of functional AHR during cardiomyogenesis is a critical determinant of differentiation.
Therefore, formation of intercalated discs associated with desmosomes and gap-junctions between donor-recipient and/or donor-donor cells, together with typical mononucleated cardiac muscle features, may be practical determinants of cardiac differentiation and/or trans-differentiation in transplanted skeletal muscle-derived stem cells.
Barchuk, A. R. et al. Molecular determinants of caste differentiation in the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera.
Using cultured hippocampal neurons, we have identified some early determinants of axon differentiation, including cAMP, protein kinase A, and its substrate protein LKB1.
These similarities indicate that although miR-143/145 are not the essential miRNAs for SMC development they are important determinants of SMC differentiation and function in vivo.
