VistaGen Therapeutics, a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, predictive toxicology, and drug metabolism assays, just announced it will feature key developments involving CardioSafe 3D™, its pluripotent stem cell-based bioassay system for heart toxicity, in a poster presentation at the Society of Toxicology’s 52nd Annual Meeting, the world’s premier toxicology conference, in San Antonio, Texas, today at 7:30 am PDT.
VistaGen’s poster titled “Development of Improved hESC-Based High-Throughput Screening Assays for Cardiotoxicity Assessment,” will be presented by Dr. Hai-Qing Xian, Senior Scientist. The presentation will discuss the following expanded functional and electrophysiological results:
• Optimized differentiation protocols that, without selection, reproducibly yield more than 80% human cardiomyocytes (human heart cells) that function reliably in various established and newly developed assays relevant to cardiac drug effects
• The use of patented technology involving the CD172a cell surface marker, allows the purification of substantially pure (more than 95%) human cardiomyocytes
• The development of a series of fluorescence or luminescence-based high-throughput assays that are used to assess drug-induced: 1) necrosis; 2) apoptosis; 3) mitochondrial toxicity; and 4) oxidative stress of human cardiomyocytes
• New assays are validated using compounds that include: 1) inhibitors of protein kinases; 2) DNA intercalating agents; 3) ion-channel blockers; and 4) compounds that block the surface expression of critical ion-channels
• The assays measured drug effects with high sensitivity, yielding results consistent with known human biology of the compounds
H. Ralph Snodgrass, PhD, VistaGen’s President and Chief Scientific Officer, stated, “I am very pleased with these results, because they confirm that our stem cell-based human cardiomyocyte screening systems will provide improved capabilities and resolution for our cardiac drug rescue programs, which we believe will contribute to the efficient and rapid identification of safer and highly effective new drug therapies.”
For more information on VistaGen and its stem cell-based bioassays, visit www.VistaGen.com
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