scholarly journals An in vitro bioengineered model of the human arterial neurovascular unit to study neurodegenerative diseases

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Robert ◽  
Nicholas L. Weilinger ◽  
Li-Ping Cao ◽  
Stefano Cataldi ◽  
Emily B. Button ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Neurovascular Unit ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Abstract Introduction The neurovascular unit (NVU) – the interaction between the neurons and the cerebrovasculature – is increasingly important to interrogate through human-based experimental models. Although advanced models of cerebral capillaries have been developed in the last decade, there is currently no in vitro 3-dimensional (3D) perfusible model of the human cortical arterial NVU. Method We used a tissue-engineering technique to develop a scaffold-directed, perfusible, 3D human NVU that is cultured in native-like flow conditions that mimics the anatomy and physiology of cortical penetrating arteries. Results This system, composed of primary human vascular cells (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and astrocytes) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neurons, demonstrates a physiological multilayer organization of the involved cell types. It reproduces key characteristics of cortical neurons and astrocytes and enables formation of a selective and functional endothelial barrier. We provide proof-of-principle data showing that this in vitro human arterial NVU may be suitable to study neurovascular components of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as endogenously produced phosphorylated tau and beta-amyloid accumulate in the model over time. Finally, neuronal and glial fluid biomarkers relevant to neurodegenerative diseases are measurable in our arterial NVU model. Conclusion This model is a suitable research tool to investigate arterial NVU functions in healthy and disease states. Further, the design of the platform allows culture under native-like flow conditions for extended periods of time and yields sufficient tissue and media for downstream immunohistochemistry and biochemistry analyses.

scholarly journals An in vitro bioengineered model of the human arterial neurovascular unit to study neurodegenerative diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Robert ◽  
Nicholas Weilinger ◽  
Li-Ping Zao ◽  
Stefano Cataldi ◽  
Emily Button ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Neurovascular Unit ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Abstract Introduction: The neurovascular unit (NVU) – the interaction between the neurons and the cerebrovasculature – is increasingly important to interrogate through human-based experimental models. Although advanced models of cerebral capillaries have been developed in the last decade, there is currently noin vitro3-dimensional (3D) perfusible model of the human cortical arterial NVU. Method: We used a tissue-engineering technique to develop a scaffold-directed, perfusible, 3D human NVU that is cultured in native-like flow conditions that mimics the anatomy and physiology of cortical penetrating arteries. Results: This system, composed of primary human vascular cells (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and astrocytes) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neurons, demonstrates a physiological multilayer organization of the involved cell types. It also reproduces key characteristics of cortical neurons and astrocytes, as well as the formation of a selective and functional endothelial barrier. We further provide proof-of-principle that our in vitro human arterial NVU may be suitable to study neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as we report both phosphorylated tau and beta-amyloid accumulation in our model over time. Finally, we show that our arterial NVU model enables the study of neuronal and glial fluid biomarkers. Conclusion: This model is a suitable tool to investigate arterial NVU functions such as neuronal electrophysiology in health and disease. Further the design of platform allows culture under native-like flow conditions for extended periods of time and yields sufficient tissue and media for downstream immunohistochemistry and biochemistry analyses.

scholarly journals An in vitro bioengineered model of the human arterial neurovascular unit to study neurodegenerative diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Robert ◽  
Nicholas Weilinger ◽  
Li-Ping Zao ◽  
Stefano Cataldi ◽  
Emily Button ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Neurovascular Unit ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Abstract Introduction: The neurovascular unit (NVU) – the interaction between the neurons and the cerebrovasculature – is increasingly important to interrogate through human-based experimental models. Although advanced models of cerebral capillaries have been developed in the last decade, there is currently no in vitro 3-dimensional (3D) perfusible model of the human cortical arterial NVU.Method: We used a tissue-engineering technique to develop a scaffold-directed, perfusible, 3D human NVU that is cultured in native-like flow conditions that mimics the anatomy and physiology of cortical penetrating arteries.Results: This system, composed of primary human vascular cells (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and astrocytes) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neurons, demonstrates a physiological multilayer organization of the involved cell types. It reproduces key characteristics of cortical neurons and astrocytes and enables formation of a selective and functional endothelial barrier. We provide proof-of-principle data showing that this in vitro human arterial NVU may be suitable to study neurovascular components of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as endogenously produced phosphorylated tau and beta-amyloid accumulate in the model over time. Finally, neuronal and glial fluid biomarkers relevant to neurodegenerative diseases are measurable in our arterial NVU model.Conclusion: This model is a suitable research tool to investigate arterial NVU functions in healthy and disease states. Further, the design of the platform allows culture under native-like flow conditions for extended periods of time and yields sufficient tissue and media for downstream immunohistochemistry and biochemistry analyses.

scholarly journals Utilising Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Neurodegenerative Disease Research: Focus on Glia

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4334
Author(s):  
Katrina Albert ◽  
Jonna Niskanen ◽  
Sara Kälvälä ◽  
Šárka Lehtonen
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disease ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Glial Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Human Ipscs ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a self-renewable pool of cells derived from an organism’s somatic cells. These can then be programmed to other cell types, including neurons. Use of iPSCs in research has been two-fold as they have been used for human disease modelling as well as for the possibility to generate new therapies. Particularly in complex human diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, iPSCs can give advantages over traditional animal models in that they more accurately represent the human genome. Additionally, patient-derived cells can be modified using gene editing technology and further transplanted to the brain. Glial cells have recently become important avenues of research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, for example, in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This review focuses on using glial cells (astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes) derived from human iPSCs in order to give a better understanding of how these cells contribute to neurodegenerative disease pathology. Using glia iPSCs in in vitro cell culture, cerebral organoids, and intracranial transplantation may give us future insight into both more accurate models and disease-modifying therapies.

scholarly journals Establishment of a Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neuromuscular Co-Culture Under Optogenetic Control

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot W. Swartz ◽  
Greg Shintani ◽  
Jijun Wan ◽  
Joseph S. Maffei ◽  
Sarah H. Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Neurons ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Calcium Flux ◽  
Electrode Arrays ◽  
Spinal Motor Neurons ◽  
Culture Model ◽  
Skeletal Myotubes ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

SummaryThe failure of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a key component of degenerative neuromuscular disease, yet how NMJs degenerate in disease is unclear. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) offer the ability to model disease via differentiation toward affected cell types, however, the re-creation of an in vitro neuromuscular system has proven challenging. Here we present a scalable, all-hiPSC-derived co-culture system composed of independently derived spinal motor neurons (MNs) and skeletal myotubes (sKM). In a model of C9orf72-associated disease, co-cultures form functional NMJs that can be manipulated through optical stimulation, eliciting muscle contraction and measurable calcium flux in innervated sKM. Furthermore, co-cultures grown on multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) permit the pharmacological interrogation of neuromuscular physiology. Utilization of this co-culture model as a tunable, patient-derived system may offer significant insights into NMJ formation, maturation, repair, or pathogenic mechanisms that underlie NMJ dysfunction in disease.

scholarly journals CellMap: Characterizing the types and composition of iPSC-derived cells from RNA-seq data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengyu Ouyang ◽  
Nathanael Bourgeois ◽  
Eugenia Lyashenko ◽  
Paige Cundiff ◽  
Patrick F Cullen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Single Nucleus ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived cell types are increasingly employed as in vitro model systems for drug discovery. For these studies to be meaningful, it is important to understand the reproducibility of the iPSC-derived cultures and their similarity to equivalent endogenous cell types. Single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) are useful to gain such understanding, but they are expensive and time consuming, while bulk RNA-seq data can be generated quicker and at lower cost. In silico cell type decomposition is an efficient, inexpensive, and convenient alternative that can leverage bulk RNA-seq to derive more fine-grained information about these cultures. We developed CellMap, a computational tool that derives cell type profiles from publicly available single-cell and single-nucleus datasets to infer cell types in bulk RNA-seq data from iPSC-derived cell lines.

scholarly journals Application of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cellular and Organoid Models for COVID-19 Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumei Luo ◽  
Mimi Zhang ◽  
Yapei Chen ◽  
Yaoyong Chen ◽  
Detu Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Infection Mechanisms ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
The Brain

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its rapid international spread has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics, which is a global public health crisis. Thus, there is an urgent need to establish biological models to study the pathology of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which not only involves respiratory failure, but also includes dysregulation of other organs and systems, including the brain, heart, liver, intestines, pancreas, kidneys, eyes, and so on. Cellular and organoid models derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are ideal tools for in vitro simulation of viral life cycles and drug screening to prevent the reemergence of coronavirus. These iPSC-derived models could recapitulate the functions and physiology of various human cell types and assemble the complex microenvironments similar with those in the human organs; therefore, they can improve the study efficiency of viral infection mechanisms, mimic the natural host-virus interaction, and be suited for long-term experiments. In this review, we focus on the application of in vitro iPSC-derived cellular and organoid models in COVID-19 studies.

scholarly journals Tracing Early Neurodevelopment in Schizophrenia with Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Cells ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruhel Ahmad ◽  
Vincenza Sportelli ◽  
Michael Ziller ◽  
Dietmar Spengler ◽  
Anke Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Disease Modeling ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Micro Rna ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a devastating mental disorder that is characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotion, language, sense of self, and behavior. Epidemiological evidence suggests that subtle perturbations in early neurodevelopment increase later susceptibility for disease, which typically manifests in adolescence to early adulthood. Early perturbations are thought to be significantly mediated through incompletely understood genetic risk factors. The advent of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology allows for the in vitro analysis of disease-relevant neuronal cell types from the early stages of human brain development. Since iPSCs capture each donor’s genotype, comparison between neuronal cells derived from healthy and diseased individuals can provide important insights into the molecular and cellular basis of SCZ. In this review, we discuss results from an increasing number of iPSC-based SCZ/control studies that highlight alterations in neuronal differentiation, maturation, and neurotransmission in addition to perturbed mitochondrial function and micro-RNA expression. In light of this remarkable progress, we consider also ongoing challenges from the field of iPSC-based disease modeling that call for further improvements on the generation and design of patient-specific iPSC studies to ultimately progress from basic studies on SCZ to tailored treatments.

scholarly journals Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, 3D cardiac structures, and heart-on-a-chip as tools for drug research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalina Andrysiak ◽  
Jacek Stępniewski ◽  
Józef Dulak
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Drug Research ◽  
Drug Effects ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
In Vitro Models ◽  
Cardiac Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

AbstractDevelopment of new drugs is of high interest for the field of cardiac and cardiovascular diseases, which are a dominant cause of death worldwide. Before being allowed to be used and distributed, every new potentially therapeutic compound must be strictly validated during preclinical and clinical trials. The preclinical studies usually involve the in vitro and in vivo evaluation. Due to the increasing reporting of discrepancy in drug effects in animal and humans and the requirement to reduce the number of animals used in research, improvement of in vitro models based on human cells is indispensable. Primary cardiac cells are difficult to access and maintain in cell culture for extensive experiments; therefore, the human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) became an excellent alternative. This technology enables a production of high number of patient- and disease-specific cardiomyocytes and other cardiac cell types for a large-scale research. The drug effects can be extensively evaluated in the context of electrophysiological responses with a use of well-established tools, such as multielectrode array (MEA), patch clamp, or calcium ion oscillation measurements. Cardiotoxicity, which is a common reason for withdrawing drugs from marketing or rejection at final stages of clinical trials, can be easily verified with a use of hiPSC-CM model providing a prediction of human-specific responses and higher safety of clinical trials involving patient cohort. Abovementioned studies can be performed using two-dimensional cell culture providing a high-throughput and relatively lower costs. On the other hand, more complex structures, such as engineered heart tissue, organoids, or spheroids, frequently applied as co-culture systems, represent more physiological conditions and higher maturation rate of hiPSC-derived cells. Furthermore, heart-on-a-chip technology has recently become an increasingly popular tool, as it implements controllable culture conditions, application of various stimulations and continuous parameters read-out. This paper is an overview of possible use of cardiomyocytes and other cardiac cell types derived from hiPSC as in vitro models of heart in drug research area prepared on the basis of latest scientific reports and providing thorough discussion regarding their advantages and limitations.

scholarly journals CD49f is a novel marker to purify functional human iPSC-derived astrocytes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilianne Barbar ◽  
Tanya Jain ◽  
Matthew Zimmer ◽  
Ilya Kruglikov ◽  
Suzanne R. Burstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Glutamate Uptake ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Characteristic Functions ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Complex Culture ◽  
Human Ipsc

ABSTRACTAstrocytes play a central role in the central nervous system (CNS), maintaining brain homeostasis, providing metabolic support to neurons, regulating connectivity of neural circuits, and controlling blood flow as an integral part of the blood-brain barrier. They have been increasingly implicated in the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, prompting a greater need for methods that enable their study. The advent of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology has made it possible to generate patient-specific astrocytes and CNS cells using protocols developed by our team and others as valuable disease models. Yet isolating astrocytes from primary specimens or from in vitro mixed cultures for downstream analyses has remained challenging. To address this need, we performed a screen for surface markers that allow FACS sorting of astrocytes. Here we demonstrate that CD49f is an effective marker for sorting functional human astrocytes. We sorted CD49f+ cells from a protocol we previously developed that generates a complex culture of oligodendrocytes, neurons and astrocytes from iPSCs. CD49f+-purified cells express all canonical astrocyte markers and perform characteristic functions, such as neuronal support and glutamate uptake. Of particular relevance to neurodegenerative diseases, CD49f+ astrocytes can be stimulated to take on an A1 neurotoxic phenotype, in which they secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines and show an impaired ability to support neuronal maturation. This study establishes a novel marker for isolating functional astrocytes from complex CNS cell populations, strengthening the use of iPSC-astrocytes for the study of their regulation and dysregulation in neurodegenerative diseases.

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