Transformation of adult ventricular myocytes with the temperature sensitive A58 (tsA58) mutant of the SV40 large T antigen.

Freshly isolated ventricular myocytes have been used extensively as an adult cardiac model system. Due to their inability to undergo cytokinesis in vitro and their dedifferentiated properties in long-term culture, they can not be used for extended studies. Recent reports tell of the establishment of fetal and neonatal cardiac cell lines and the development of adult cardiomyocytes from transgenic animals. A recent report by Kirshenbaum [1], is the first to demonstrate insertion of genes in to adult ventricular myocytes using viral infection. This paper discusses the infection of primary adult differentiated cardiomyocytes with the SV40 large T antigen and subsequent proliferation under temperature sensitive control. Upon further characterization, the cells could be used as a model to study muscle differentiation and repair as well as adult cardiac cell physiology.