This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Woohwangcheungsimweun (ox bezoar), deer antlers, and wild ginseng on induction of cardiomyocyte differentiation using the established mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. The expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was highest in Woohwangcheungsimweun treatment group. The expression of rabbit anti-GATA-4(GATA-4) and troponin (TnI) were highest in wild ginseng and Woohwangcheungsimweun treatment groups, respectively. Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis showed that the expression of ANP was highest in Dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO) and Woohwangcheungsimweun treatment groups. The expression of GATA-4 was relatively high in wild ginseng treatment group. The expression of TnI was highest in Woohwangcheungsimweun treatment group. In the gene expression analysis, DMSO greatly inhibited GATA-4 expression to 25% of control. Woohwangcheungsimweun treatment caused to increase cTnI and cardiac ANP expression significantly. Wild ginseng extract upregulated GATA-4 gene expression. In conclusion, DMSO widely used as cardiomyocyte differentiation inducer did not show significant effects on the expression of ANP, GATA-4 and TnI in this study. Woohwangcheungsimweun showed upregulation of ANP and TnI expression. Wild ginseng extract showed greater effects than DMSO on GATA-4 expression. These results might suggest that the combination of Woohwangcheungsimweun and wild ginseng extract treatment can be expected to increase expressions of all three genes.

배아줄기세포(embryonic stem cell, ESC)는 미분화상태로 지속적인 계대가 가능하며, 정상 핵형과 전 분화능(pluripotency)을 가져 생체내-외에서 분화 유도시 삼배엽성의 모든 세포로 분화 가능하다. ESC를 feeder 세포 없이 부유배양하면 배아체(embryoid body, EB)를 형성하고, 초기 배아 발생과 유사한 분화 양상을 갖는다. ESC의 분화 유도가 초기배아 발생처럼 생식호르몬(GTH: FSH, LH; steroids