Transfection of Human Embryonic Germ(EG) Cells with Human Cardiac alpha-Actin Promoter Driving pEGFP-N1

In order to purify the cardiomyocytes derived stem cells, we constructed an expression vector, alpha -actin-pEGFP-N1 which consists of EGFP gene as reporter markers, and driven by human cardiac alpha-actin promoter, then transfected it into human embryonic germ cells(hEGCs) by Lipofectamine2000. Fluorescent observation and immunocytochemistry staining demonstrated that transfected hEGCs could differentiate into cardiomyocyte like cells and expressed GFP. The results suggest that this system may provide a model for the study of cardiogenesis and differentiation.