Spaceflight Promoted Myocardial Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Results from Tianzhou-1 Space Mission

During space travel, exposure to microgravity may have profound influence on the physiological function of mammalian cells. In this study, we took opportunity of the Tianzhou-1 (TZ-1) mission to investigate how spaceflight may affect cardiac differentiation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). A bioreactor was engineered to perform cell culturing and the time-lapse imaging experiments on-orbit. Transgenic iPSC lines with either Oct4 or α-myosin heavy chain (αMHC) promoter driving green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression were used to study cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation in real microgravity. The differentiation status was monitored by GFP fluorescence intensity. Interestingly, compared with cells cultured in identical environment at ground gravity, embryoid bodies (EBs) derived from Oct4 reporter iPSC downregulated GFP significantly quicker in space. Meanwhile, EBs derived from αMHC reporter iPSC activated GFP strongly 4 days after launch (P < 0.05) and lasted for 10 days afterward, indicating robust CM formation. This is the first real-time imaging study of iPSC myocardial differentiation in space. Under our experimental condition, real microgravity enhanced the CM differentiation process of iPSCs. Our study provided rare information about iPSC cardiac differentiation in space. In the future, similar automated stem cell experiments may help to realize personalized cardiac tissue biomanufacturing and drug test during space travel.