scholarly journals Development and Optimization of A High-Throughput 3D Rat Purkinje Neuron Culture to Study Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration

Author(s):  
Ida Margrethe Uggerud ◽  
Torbjorn Krakenes ◽  
Hirokazu Hirai ◽  
Christian Alexander Vedeler ◽  
Manja Schubert

Abstract Improved understanding of the mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative disease has been hampered by the lack of robust cellular models that faithfully replicate in vivo features. Here, we present a refined protocol for generating age-dependent, well-developed and synaptically active rat Purkinje neurons in a 3D cell network culture which are responsive to a disease inducer. Using our model, we found that the application of autoantibody Yo, a paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) inducer, alters the structure of the dendritic arbour of cultured Purkinje neurons. The numbers of dendrites per branch-order, the branch-order in itself and the dendritic length were reduced by anti-Yo, proving a functional role for anti-Yo in the pathogenesis of PCD. Our new ex-vivo model is flexible and can be used to investigate disease mechanisms that disturb Purkinje neuron function and communication in 3D. Since it is possible to use the approach in a multi-well format, this method also has high-throughput screening potential.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida M. Uggerud ◽  
Torbjorn Krakenes ◽  
Hirokazu Hirai ◽  
Christian A. Vedeler ◽  
Manja Schubert

AbstractImproved understanding of the mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative disease has been hampered by the lack of robust cellular models that faithfully replicate in vivo features. Here, we present a refined protocol for generating age-dependent, well-developed and synaptically active rat Purkinje neurons, responsive to paracrine factors and supporting a 3D cell network. Our model provides high experimental flexibility, high-throughput screening capabilities and reliability to elucidate Purkinje neuron function, communication and neurodegenerative mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Napolitano ◽  
Agnieszka Dabrowska ◽  
Kenji Schorpp ◽  
Andre Mourao ◽  
Emilia Barreto-Duran ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been socially and economically devastating. Despite an unprecedented research effort, effective therapeutics are still missing to limit severe disease and mortality. Using high-throughput screening, we identified acriflavine as a potent papain-like protease (PLpro) inhibitor. NMR titrations and a co-crystal structure confirm that acriflavine blocks the PLpro catalytic pocket in an unexpected binding mode. We show that the drug inhibits viral replication at nanomolar concentration in cellular models, in vivo in mice and ex vivo in human airway epithelia, with broad range activity against SARS-CoV-2 and other betacoronaviruses. Considering that acriflavine is an inexpensive drug approved in some countries, it may be immediately tested in clinical trials and play an important role during the current pandemic and future outbreaks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (19) ◽  
pp. 10155-10164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenwen Shao ◽  
Jiwen Yuan ◽  
Yani Liu ◽  
Yajuan Qin ◽  
Xueao Wang ◽  
...  

Myeloperoxidase (MPO)-mediated oxidative stress has been suggested to play an important role in the pathological dysfunction of epileptic brains. However, there is currently no robust brain-imaging tool to detect real-time endogenous hypochlorite (HClO) generation by MPO or a fluorescent probe for rapid high-throughput screening of antiepileptic agents that control the MPO-mediated chlorination stress. Herein, we report an efficient two-photon fluorescence probe (named HCP) for the real-time detection of endogenous HClO signals generated by MPO in the brain of kainic acid (KA)-induced epileptic mice, where HClO-dependent chlorination of quinolone fluorophore gives the enhanced fluorescence response. With this probe, we visualized directly the endogenous HClO fluxes generated by the overexpression of MPO activity in vivo and ex vivo in mouse brains with epileptic behaviors. Notably, by using HCP, we have also constructed a high-throughput screening approach to rapidly screen the potential antiepileptic agents to control MPO-mediated oxidative stress. Moreover, from this screen, we identified that the flavonoid compound apigenin can relieve the MPO-mediated oxidative stress and inhibit the ferroptosis of neuronal cells. Overall, this work provides a versatile fluorescence tool for elucidating the role of HClO generation by MPO in the pathology of epileptic seizures and for rapidly discovering additional antiepileptic agents to prevent and treat epilepsy.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Reker ◽  
Yulia Rybakova ◽  
Ameya R. Kirtane ◽  
Ruonan Cao ◽  
Jee Won Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractNanoformulations are transforming our capacity to effectively deliver and treat a myriad of conditions. However, many nanoformulation approaches still suffer from high production complexity and low drug loading. One potential solution relies on harnessing co-assembly of drugs and small molecular excipients to facilitate nanoparticle formation through solvent exchange without the need for chemical synthesis, generating nanoparticles with up to 95% drug loading. However, there is currently no understanding which of the millions of possible combinations of small molecules can result in the formation of these nanoparticles. Here we report the development of a high-throughput screening platform coupled to machine learning to enable the rapid evaluation of such nanoformulations. Our platform identified 101 novel self-assembling drug nanoparticles from 2.1 million pairings derived from 788 candidate drugs with one of 2686 excipients, spanning treatments for multiple diseases and often harnessing well-known food additives, vitamins, or approved drugs as carrier materials – with potential for accelerated approval and translation. Given their long-term stability and potential for clinical impact, we further characterize novel sorafenib-glycyrrhizin and terbinafine-taurocholic acid nanoparticles ex vivo and in vivo. We anticipate that this platform could accelerate the development of safer and more efficacious nanoformulations with high drug loadings for a wide range of therapeutics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 574-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shurong Hou ◽  
Hervé Tiriac ◽  
Banu Priya Sridharan ◽  
Louis Scampavia ◽  
Franck Madoux ◽  
...  

Traditional high-throughput drug screening in oncology routinely relies on two-dimensional (2D) cell models, which inadequately recapitulate the physiologic context of cancer. Three-dimensional (3D) cell models are thought to better mimic the complexity of in vivo tumors. Numerous methods to culture 3D organoids have been described, but most are nonhomogeneous and expensive, and hence impractical for high-throughput screening (HTS) purposes. Here we describe an HTS-compatible method that enables the consistent production of organoids in standard flat-bottom 384- and 1536-well plates by combining the use of a cell-repellent surface with a bioprinting technology incorporating magnetic force. We validated this homogeneous process by evaluating the effects of well-characterized anticancer agents against four patient-derived pancreatic cancer KRAS mutant-associated primary cells, including cancer-associated fibroblasts. This technology was tested for its compatibility with HTS automation by completing a cytotoxicity pilot screen of ~3300 approved drugs. To highlight the benefits of the 3D format, we performed this pilot screen in parallel in both the 2D and 3D assays. These data indicate that this technique can be readily applied to support large-scale drug screening relying on clinically relevant, ex vivo 3D tumor models directly harvested from patients, an important milestone toward personalized medicine.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takumi Kayukawa ◽  
Kenjiro Furuta ◽  
Keisuke Nagamine ◽  
Tetsuro Shinoda ◽  
Kiyoaki Yonesu ◽  
...  

Abstract Insecticide resistance has recently become a serious problem in the agricultural field. Development of insecticides with new mechanisms of action is essential to overcome this limitation. Juvenile hormone (JH) is an insect-specific hormone that plays key roles in maintaining the larval stage of insects. Hence, JH signaling pathway is considered a suitable target in the development of novel insecticides; however, only a few JH signaling inhibitors (JHSIs) have been reported, and no practical JHSIs have been developed. Here, we established a high-throughput screening (HTS) system for exploration of novel JHSIs using a Bombyx mori cell line (BmN_JF&AR cells) and carried out a large-scale screening in this cell line using a chemical library. The four-step HTS yielded 69 compounds as candidate JHSIs. Topical application of JHSI48 to B. mori larvae caused precocious metamorphosis. In ex vivo culture of the epidermis, JHSI48 suppressed the expression of the Krüppel homolog 1 gene, which is directly activated by JH-liganded receptor. Moreover, JHSI48 caused a parallel rightward shift in the JH response curve, suggesting that JHSI48 possesses a competitive antagonist-like activity. Thus, large-scale HTS using chemical libraries may have applications in development of future insecticides targeting the JH signaling pathway.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhou Fang ◽  
Junjian Chen ◽  
Ye Zhu ◽  
Guansong Hu ◽  
Haoqian Xin ◽  
...  

AbstractPeptides are widely used for surface modification to develop improved implants, such as cell adhesion RGD peptide and antimicrobial peptide (AMP). However, it is a daunting challenge to identify an optimized condition with the two peptides showing their intended activities and the parameters for reaching such a condition. Herein, we develop a high-throughput strategy, preparing titanium (Ti) surfaces with a gradient in peptide density by click reaction as a platform, to screen the positions with desired functions. Such positions are corresponding to optimized molecular parameters (peptide densities/ratios) and associated preparation parameters (reaction times/reactant concentrations). These parameters are then extracted to prepare nongradient mono- and dual-peptide functionalized Ti surfaces with desired biocompatibility or/and antimicrobial activity in vitro and in vivo. We also demonstrate this strategy could be extended to other materials. Here, we show that the high-throughput versatile strategy holds great promise for rational design and preparation of functional biomaterial surfaces.


Molecules ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanyoung Lim ◽  
Sungsu Park

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture is considered more clinically relevant in mimicking the structural and physiological conditions of tumors in vivo compared to two-dimensional cell cultures. In recent years, high-throughput screening (HTS) in 3D cell arrays has been extensively used for drug discovery because of its usability and applicability. Herein, we developed a microfluidic spheroid culture device (μFSCD) with a concentration gradient generator (CGG) that enabled cells to form spheroids and grow in the presence of cancer drug gradients. The device is composed of concave microwells with several serpentine micro-channels which generate a concentration gradient. Once the colon cancer cells (HCT116) formed a single spheroid (approximately 120 μm in diameter) in each microwell, spheroids were perfused in the presence of the cancer drug gradient irinotecan for three days. The number of spheroids, roundness, and cell viability, were inversely proportional to the drug concentration. These results suggest that the μFSCD with a CGG has the potential to become an HTS platform for screening the efficacy of cancer drugs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 985-999
Author(s):  
John Vincent ◽  
Marian Preston ◽  
Elizabeth Mouchet ◽  
Nicolas Laugier ◽  
Adam Corrigan ◽  
...  

Cytoplasmic dynein-1 (hereafter dynein) is a six-subunit motor complex that transports a variety of cellular components and pathogens along microtubules. Dynein’s cellular functions are only partially understood, and potent and specific small-molecule inhibitors and activators of this motor would be valuable for addressing this issue. It has also been hypothesized that an inhibitor of dynein-based transport could be used in antiviral or antimitotic therapy, whereas an activator could alleviate age-related neurodegenerative diseases by enhancing microtubule-based transport in axons. Here, we present the first high-throughput screening (HTS) assay capable of identifying both activators and inhibitors of dynein-based transport. This project is also the first collaborative screening report from the Medical Research Council and AstraZeneca agreement to form the UK Centre for Lead Discovery. A cellular imaging assay was used, involving chemically controlled recruitment of activated dynein complexes to peroxisomes. Such a system has the potential to identify molecules that affect multiple aspects of dynein biology in vivo. Following optimization of key parameters, the assay was developed in a 384-well format with semiautomated liquid handling and image acquisition. Testing of more than 500,000 compounds identified both inhibitors and activators of dynein-based transport in multiple chemical series. Additional analysis indicated that many of the identified compounds do not affect the integrity of the microtubule cytoskeleton and are therefore candidates to directly target the transport machinery.


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