Name: bioparticle microarrays for chemotactic and molecular analysis of human neutrophil swarming in vitro
Uploaded: 2020-02-16T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Bioparticle Microarrays for Chemotactic and Molecular Analysis of Human Neutrophil Swarming in vitro at JoVE.com

This work was supported by funding from the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Comprehensive Cancer Center at The Ohio State University. Data presented in this report came from images processed using Imaris x64 (ver. 9.3.0 Bitplane) available at the Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility, The Ohio State University. This facility is supported in part by grant P30 CA016058, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD.

The authors acknowledge the healthy volunteers who kindly donated their blood. Blood specimens were obtained after informed volunteer consent according to institutional review board (IRB) protocol #2018H0268 reviewed by the Biomedical Sciences Committee at The Ohio State University.
1. Microfabrication of bioparticle microarray
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	<li>Using standard photolithography procedures, generate the master silicon wafer.
	<ol>
		<li>Generate a proof of the desired design using a computer-aided des...

<ol>
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We developed a microstamping platform to generate uniform arrays of bioparticles to stimulate in vitro neutrophil swarming. The in vitro nature of our platform allows us to circumvent the complications that arise with in vivo swarming experiments, namely the poor ability to analyze mediators released by swarming neutrophils5. Additionally, in vivo models are typically performed in rodents11,12,13,</s...

Neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cell in the bloodstream1, are gaining attention as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets2,3 because they may be involved in a variety of medical conditions including gout4, sepsis3, trauma5,6, cancer1,7,8, and various autoimmune diseases5,9. Neutrophil swarming is a multistage, tightly regulated process with a complexity that makes it a particularly interesting focus of study5,10,11. During swarming, neutrophils isolate a site of inflammation from the surrounding healthy tissue5,10,11. Proper regulation of neutrophil swarming is essential to promote wound healing and ultimately inflammation resolution5,12. Neutrophil swarming has primarily been studied in vivo in rodent12,13,14,15 and zebrafish10,11,12,15 models. However, the nature of these in vivo animal models gives rise to limitations5. For example, the mediators released by neutrophils during swarming are not easily accessible for analysis5. Additionally, there are many potential sources for a given mediator in vivo, so an in vivo experiment must introduce a genetic deficiency to inhibit cellular production and/or interaction in order to investigate the role of that mediator in a given process13. An in vitro experiment circumvents this complication by enabling neutrophil observation without the context of additional cells. Additionally, research describing human neutrophil coordinated migration is limited16. On an in vitro swarming platform, human neutrophils can be directly analyzed. An in vitro swarming platform could expand upon the knowledge gained from in vivo studies by providing opportunities to fill the gaps left by the limitations of in vivo studies.
To address the need for an in vitro platform that mimics in vivo neutrophil swarming, we developed a microstamping platform that enables us to pattern bioparticle microarrays that stimulate neutrophil swarming in a spatially controlled manner. We generate bioparticle microarrays on glass slides in a two-step process. First, we use microstamping to generate a microarray of cationic polyelectrolyte (CP) spots. Second, we add a solution of bioparticles that adhere to the CP spots via electrostatic interaction. By first patterning the CP layer, we can selectively pattern negatively charged bioparticles to generate the desired neutrophil swarming pattern. The positively charged layer holds the negatively charged bioparticles through the vigorous washing step that removes the bioparticles from the areas on the glass slide that do not have the CP. Additionally, the CP used here, a copolymer of acrylamide and quaternized cationic monomer, is biocompatible, so it does not induce a response from the neutrophils. It has a very high surface charge that immobilizes the micron-sized bioparticles to the glass slide, thus inhibiting neutrophils from removing the particles from the patterned position on the glass slide. This results in bioparticle clusters arranged in a microarray. When we added neutrophils to the microarray, they formed stable swarms around the bioparticle clusters. Through tracking neutrophil migration, we found that swarming neutrophils actively migrate toward the bioparticle clusters. Furthermore, we used this platform to analyze certain mediators that neutrophils release during swarming. We found 16 mediators that are differentially expressed during swarming. Their concentrations follow three general trends over time: increase, decrease, or spike. Our in vitro neutrophil swarming platform facilitates the analysis of spatially controlled human neutrophil swarming, as well as the collection and analysis of mediators released by neutrophil swarming. In a previous publication, we demonstrated that patients with certain medical conditions (trauma, autoimmune disease, and sepsis), had neutrophils that functioned differently than those from healthy donors5. In future research studies, our platform could be used to analyze neutrophil function among a variety of patient populations. This platform can quantitatively analyze the complex coordination involved in neutrophil swarming. Additional studies can be done to provide insight on the neutrophil function of a specific patient population or neutrophil response to a pathogen of interest.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>&#34;The Big Easy&#34; EasySep Magnet</td>
			<td>STEMCELL Technologies</td>
			<td>18001</td>
			<td>Magnet to use with neutrophil isolation kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cell Incubator</td>
			<td>Okolab</td>
			<td>777057437 / 77057343</td>
			<td>Okolab cage incubator for temperature and CO2 control</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>EasySep Human Neutrophil Isolation Kit</td>
			<td>STEMCELL Technologies</td>
			<td>17957</td>
			<td>Kit for immunomagnetic negative selection of human neutrophils</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Eclipse Ti2</td>
			<td>Nikon Instruments</td>
			<td>MEA54010 / MEF55037</td>
			<td>Inverted research microscope</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Escherichia coli (K-12 strain) BioParticles Texas Red conjugate</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>E2863</td>
			<td>Bioparticle powder, dissolve in water prior to addition to Zetag&#174; array</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Harris Uni-Core 8-mm biopsy punch</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>Z708925</td>
			<td>To cut PDMS stamps</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HetaSep</td>
			<td>STEMCELL Technologies</td>
			<td>7906</td>
			<td>Erythrocyte aggregation agent for separating buffy coat from red blood cells in fresh human blood</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hoechst 33342</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>H3570</td>
			<td>Nucleus fluorescent stain</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Human L1000 Array</td>
			<td>Raybiotech Inc.</td>
			<td>AAH-BLG-1000-4</td>
			<td>High density array to detect 1000 human proteins</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Human Serum Albumin (HSA)</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>A5843</td>
			<td>Low endotoxin HSA, to prepare 2 % solutions in IMDM for isolated neutrophils</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Iscove&#39;s Modified Dulbeccos&#39; Medium (IMDM)</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>12440053</td>
			<td>To resuspend isolated neutrophils</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>K2-EDTA tubes</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>02-657-32</td>
			<td>Tubes for blood collection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low Reflective Chrome Photomask</td>
			<td>Front Range Photomask</td>
			<td>N/A</td>
			<td>Dimensions 5&#34; x 5&#34; x 0.09&#34; (L x W x D)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Microarray Scanner</td>
			<td>Perkin Elmer</td>
			<td>ASCNGX00</td>
			<td>Fluorescence reader of protein patterned microdomains</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Microscopy Image Analsysis Software - Imaris</td>
			<td>Bitplane</td>
			<td>9.3.0</td>
			<td>Software for automatic cell tracking analysis</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NiS Elements Advanced Research Software Package</td>
			<td>Nikon Instruments</td>
			<td>MQS31100</td>
			<td>Software for automatic live cell imaging and swarm size calculation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Poly-L-lysine fluorescein isothiocyanate (PLL-FITC)</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>P3069-10MG</td>
			<td>30,000 - 70,000 MW PLL labeled with FITC, used to fluorescently label CP solution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SecureSeal 8-well Imaging Spacer</td>
			<td>Grace Bio-Labs</td>
			<td>654008</td>
			<td>8-well, 9-mm diameter, adhesive imaging spacer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Silicon Wafer</td>
			<td>University Wafer</td>
			<td>590</td>
			<td>Silicon 100 mm N/P (100) 0- 100 ohm-cm 500 &#956;m SSP test</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Spin Coater</td>
			<td>Laurell</td>
			<td>WS-650MZ-23NPPB</td>
			<td>Used to spincoat a 40-&#181;m layer of photoresist onto silicon wafer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SU-8 2025</td>
			<td>MicroChem</td>
			<td>2025</td>
			<td>Negative photoresist to make silicon master wafer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SU-8 Developer</td>
			<td>MicroChem</td>
			<td>Y020100</td>
			<td>Photoresist developer. Remove non-crosslinked SU-8 2025 from silicon wafer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sylgard 184 (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS)</td>
			<td>Dow</td>
			<td>1673921</td>
			<td>2-part silicone elastomer kit for making microstamps and PDMS wells</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>UV Exposure Masking System</td>
			<td>Klo&#233;</td>
			<td>UV-KUB 2</td>
			<td>Used to crosslink photoresist on silicon wafer through chrome mask with UV light</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Water</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>A1287303</td>
			<td>High quality water to dilute bioparticles</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Zetag 8185</td>
			<td>BASF</td>
			<td>8185</td>
			<td>Cationic polyelectrolyte (CP), powder, Copolymer of acrylamide and quaternized cationic monomer, forms &#34;inking solution&#34; for microstamping when dissolved in water</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Zymosan A S. cerevisiae BioParticles Texas Red conjugate</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>Z2843</td>
			<td>Bioparticle powder, dissolve in water prior to addition to Zetag array</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

bioparticle microarrays for chemotactic and molecular analysis of human neutrophil swarming in vitro

Neutrophil swarming is a cooperative process by which neutrophils seal off a site of infection and promote tissue reorganization. Swarming has classically been studied in vivo in animal models showing characteristic patterns of cell migration. However, in vivo models have several limitations, including intercellular mediators that are difficult to access and analyze, as well as the inability to directly analyze human neutrophils. Because of these limitations, there is a need for an in vitro platform that studies swarming with human neutrophils and provides easy access to the molecular signals generated during swarming. Here, a multistep microstamping process is used to generate a bioparticle microarray that stimulates swarming by mimicking an in vivo infection. The bioparticle microarray induces neutrophils to swarm in a controlled and stable manner. On the microarray, neutrophils increase in speed and form stable swarms around bioparticle clusters. Additionally, supernatant generated by the neutrophils was analyzed and 16 proteins were discovered to have been differentially expressed over the course of swarming. This in vitro swarming platform facilitates direct analysis of neutrophil migration and protein release in a reproducible, spatially controlled manner.

When neutrophils are added to the bioparticle microarray, neutrophils that contact the bioparticle clusters become activated and initiate the swarming response. The bioparticle microarray was validated using time-lapse fluorescent microscopy to track neutrophil migration toward the bioparticle clusters (Video S1). The migration of individual neutrophil nuclei is tracked as they migrate toward the bioparticle cluster. When neutrophils reach the bioparticle cluster, their nuclei overlap with other nuclei i...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Bioparticle Microarrays for Chemotactic and Molecular Analysis of Human Neutrophil Swarming in vitro at JoVE.com

Bioparticle Microarrays for Chemotactic and Molecular Analysis of Human Neutrophil Swarming in vitro

This protocol generates bioparticle microarrays that provide spatially controlled neutrophil swarming. It provides easy access to the mediators that neutrophils release during migration and allows for quantitative imaging analysis.

Neutrophil swarming is a cooperative process by which neutrophils seal off a site of infection and promote tissue reorganization. Swarming has classically ...

This protocol is significant because it allows for an in vitro analysis of neutrophil swarming, which overcomes many limitations of our present inability to experiment. The main advantage of this technique is that it provides easy access to the secreted cytokines and lipid mediators that neutrophils release during swarming and allows for quantitative imaging analysis. While we applied this technique to neutrophils, it could be extended to analyze the migration of other white blood cells like monocytes and T cells.Begin by preparing a 1.6 milligram per milliliter cationic polyelectrolite, or CP solution, by adding the proper amount of CP powder to water and mixing it on the stir plate overnight or until all solids are dissolved. If desired, the solution can be made fluorescent by adding poly-L-lysine labeled with FITC. Generate the master silicon wafer using standard photolithography procedures.The design used here is a four by four milliliter rectangular array of 30 micrometer diameter filled-in circles, with a 150 micrometer center to center spacing, but it can be modified as desired for different applications. Spin-coat a 40 micrometer thick layer of negative photoresist onto a silicon wafer. Then bake the wafer at 65 degrees Celsius for five minutes.And 95 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Expose the wafer to UV light through a chrome photomask with 150 to 160 millijoules per centimeter squared. Bake the wafer again at 65 degrees Celsius for five minutes and 95 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.Then submerge it in photoresist developer for 10 minutes. And rinse it with isopropyl alcohol. The pattern should now be visible on the wafer.Next, thoroughly mix a 10 to one ratio of polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS, prepolymer and its curing agent. And pour the uncured mixture over the master wafer in a Petri dish. Vacuum treat the uncured PDMS mixture until no air bubbles are present.Then cure it overnight at 65 degrees Celsius. On the next day, use a scalpel to cut around the exterior of the patterned section of the wafer. And slowly remove the cured PDMS slab, placing it on a clean cutting board with the patterned side facing up.Punch out individual stamps from the PDMS slab with an eight millimeter biopsy punch and place each stamp face-down on the adhesive tape to remove debris. With these stamps facing up, prime each stamp with 100 microliters of the pre-prepared CP solution, ensuring that no air bubbles form between the solution and the stamp. Then invert the stamps onto a layer of CP solution and remove them after one hour.Dab each wet stamp face down onto a clean glass slide six to eight times to remove excess liquid. Then vacuum treat the stamps for one to two minutes. Adhere an eight well, eight millimeter diameter imaging spacer on top of a clean glass slide as a guide for stamp placement.Place a stamp face down on the glass slide in the center of each well of the imaging spacer. Then place a 5.6 gram balanced weight on top of each stamp and allow 10 minutes for stamping. Remove the weights and the stamps from the slide and allow the CP layer to dry at room temperature for 24 hours before adding bioparticles.If the CP is tagged with FITC, check effectiveness of the stamping with a fluorescent microscope. Cut a blank PDMS slab to the size of the imaging spacer and use the eight millimeter biopsy punch to create wells in the PDMS that align with the wells of the spacer. Then adhere the PDMS slab to the glass slide.Thaw a solution of bioparticles and dilute it to 500 micrograms per milliliter in water for injection. Add 100 microliters of bioparticle solution to each PDMS well on the glass slide and rock the slide for 30 minutes. Rinse the wells thoroughly with water and check the pattern on the slide with a fluorescent microscope.The bioparticle microarray can be stored in a dust-free environment at four degrees Celsius for up to three months. Prepare the cells by resuspending them at 7.5 times 10 to the fifth cells per milliliter in IMDM with 0.4%human serum albumen. Add 100 microliters of the suspension to a PDMS well containing the bioparticle microarray, making sure that the cell suspension is convex over the top of the PDMS well and doesn't contain any bubbles.Seal the well with a 12 millimeter diameter cover slip and press down gently with tweezers so the excess cell suspension escapes to edge of the well, then use a tissue to remove the excess. To image the cells, load the microparticle array with cells on the live cell imaging station of a microscope equipped with a cage incubator set to 37 degrees Celsius, 5%carbon dioxide, and 90%relative humidity. Use time lapse, fluorescent, and bright field microscopy to record images at 10X magnification every 10 seconds at 405 nanometers, 594 nanometers, and bright field.Incubate the neutrophils in the wells with bioparticles at 37 degrees Celsius and 5%carbon dioxide for three hours, taking samples at desired time points. Use a bright field microscope to verify that swarms are formed on the microarray. Collect the entire volume of supernatant of a single well, and load it into a 0.45 micrometer centrifuge filter tube, making sure to analyze each time point in triplicate.Centrifuge the tubes at 190 times G and 20 degrees Celsius for five minutes, and collect the filtered volume. Then store the samples at minus 80 degrees Celsius until processing time. When attempting this protocol, work with photoresist and developer in the fume hood.Have an IRB approved protocol in place before taking blood from human donors. Remember that materials derived from human blood are BSL2. When neutrophils are added to the bioparticle microarray, neutrophils that contact the bioparticle clusters become activated and initiate the swarming response.The bioparticle microarray was validated using time lapse fluorescent microscopy to track neutrophil migrations toward the bioparticle clusters. Stable neutrophil swarms are formed around each cluster after 30 to 60 minutes of exposure. In contrast, neutrophils do not show collective migration in the absence of bioparticle clusters.Fluorescence intensity of stained neutrophil nuclei was used to determine that the average swarm size around the bioparticle clusters was approximately 1490 micrometers squared. In the absence of clusters, fluorescence of a given region of interest remained constant over time. Tracks of neutrophil migration show that neutrophils converged on a bioparticle cluster when one was present, but no convergence was observed in the control system.The speed of swarming and nonactivated neutrophils was measured, and a statistically significant difference in the speed distributions was found. The average speed for swarming neutrophils was 20.6 micrometers per minute, while the average speed for control neutrophils was two micrometers per minute. The concentrations of 16 proteins that neutrophils release during swarming were analyzed over time.10 proteins increased in concentration. Two decreased. And the remaining four increased during the first hour of swarming but decreased thereafter.While performing this procedure, ensure that everything is clean and your stamps are dried properly, as these are essential for successful patterning of the bacterial particles. The development of this technique will enable researchers to explore new questions in the field of neutrophil swarming, including how free mediators and extracellular vesicles are involved in neutrophil intercellular communication.

bioparticle-microarrays-for-chemotactic-molecular-analysis-human

Research

JoVE Journal

Bioengineering

In vitro Assembly of Semi-artificial Molecular Machine and its Use for Detection of DNA Damage

Naturally occurring bio-molecular machines work in every living cell and display a variety of designs 1-6. Yet the development of artificial molecular machines centers on devices capable of directional motion, i.e. molecular motors, and on their scaled-down mechanical parts (wheels, axels, pendants etc) 7-9. This imitates the macro-machines, even though the physical properties essential for these devices, such as inertia and momentum conservation, are not usable in the nanoworld environments 10. Alternative designs, which do not follow the mechanical macromachines schemes and use mechanisms developed in the evolution of biological molecules, can take advantage of the specific conditions of the nanoworld. Besides, adapting actual biological molecules for the purposes of nano-design reduces potential dangers the nanotechnology products may pose. Here we demonstrate the assembly and application of one such bio-enabled construct, a semi-artificial molecular device which combines a naturally-occurring molecular machine with artificial components. From the enzymology point of view, our construct is a designer fluorescent enzyme-substrate complex put together to perform a specific useful function. This assembly is by definition a molecular machine, as it contains one 12. Yet, its integration with the engineered part - fluorescent dual hairpin - re-directs it to a new task of labeling DNA damage12.
Our construct assembles out of a 32-mer DNA and an enzyme vaccinia topoisomerase I (VACC TOPO). The machine then uses its own material to fabricate two fluorescently labeled detector units (Figure 1). One of the units (green fluorescence) carries VACC TOPO covalently attached to its 3'end and another unit (red fluorescence) is a free hairpin with a terminal 3'OH. The units are short-lived and quickly reassemble back into the original construct, which subsequently recleaves. In the absence of DNA breaks these two units continuously separate and religate in a cyclic manner. In tissue sections with DNA damage, the topoisomerase-carrying detector unit selectively attaches to blunt-ended DNA breaks with 5'OH (DNase II-type breaks)11,12, fluorescently labeling them. The second, enzyme-free hairpin formed after oligonucleotide cleavage, will ligate to a 5'PO4 blunt-ended break (DNase I-type breaks)11,12, if T4 DNA ligase is present in the solution 13,14 . When T4 DNA ligase is added to a tissue section or a solution containing DNA with 5'PO4 blunt-ended breaks, the ligase reacts with 5'PO4 DNA ends, forming semi-stable enzyme-DNA complexes. The blunt ended hairpins will interact with these complexes releasing ligase and covalently linking hairpins to DNA, thus labeling 5'PO4 blunt-ended DNA breaks.
This development exemplifies a new practical approach to the design of molecular machines and provides a useful sensor for detection of apoptosis and DNA damage in fixed cells and tissues.

In vitro Assembly of Semi-artificial Molecular Machine and its Use for Detection of DNA Damage

We demonstrate the assembly and application of a molecular-scale device powered by a topoisomerase protein. The construct is a bio-molecular sensor which labels two major types of DNA breaks in tissue sections by attaching two different fluorophores to their ends.

Naturally occurring bio-molecular machines work in every living cell and display a variety of designs 1-6. Yet the development of artificial molecular ...

Polymer Microarrays for High Throughput Discovery of Biomaterials

The discovery of novel biomaterials that are optimized for a specific biological application is readily achieved using polymer microarrays, which allows a combinatorial library of materials to be screened in a parallel, high throughput format1. Herein is described the formation and characterization of a polymer microarray using an on-chip photopolymerization technique 2. This involves mixing monomers at varied ratios to produce a library of monomer solutions, transferring the solution to a glass slide format using a robotic printing device and curing with UV irradiation. This format is readily amenable to many biological assays, including stem cell attachment and proliferation, cell sorting and low bacterial adhesion, allowing the ready identification of 'hit' materials that fulfill a specific biological criterion3-5. Furthermore, the use of high throughput surface characterization (HTSC) allows the biological performance to be correlated with physio-chemical properties, hence elucidating the biological-material interaction6. HTSC makes use of water contact angle (WCA) measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). In particular, ToF-SIMS provides a chemically rich analysis of the sample that can be used to correlate the cell response with a molecular moiety. In some cases, the biological performance can be predicted from the ToF-SIMS spectra, demonstrating the chemical dependence of a biological-material interaction, and informing the development of hit materials5,3.

A description of the formation of a polymer microarray using an on-chip photopolymerization technique. The high throughput surface characterization using atomic force microscopy, water contact angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and a cell attachment assay is also described.

The discovery of novel biomaterials that are optimized for a specific biological application is readily achieved using polymer microarrays, which allows a ...

Silk Film Culture System for in vitro Analysis and Biomaterial Design

Silk films are promising protein-based biomaterials that can be fabricated with high fidelity and economically within a research laboratory environment 1,2 . These materials are desirable because they possess highly controllable dimensional and material characteristics, are biocompatible and promote cell adhesion, can be modified through topographic patterning or by chemically altering the surface, and can be used as a depot for biologically active molecules for drug delivery related applications 3-8 . In addition, silk films are relatively straightforward to custom design, can be designed to dissolve within minutes or degrade over years in vitro or in vivo, and are produce with the added benefit of being transparent in nature and therefore highly suitable for imaging applications 9-13. The culture system methodology presented here represents a scalable approach for rapid assessments of cell-silk film surface interactions. Of particular interest is the use of surface patterned silk films to study differences in cell proliferation and responses of cells for alignment 12,14 . The seeded cultures were cultured on both micro-patterned and flat silk film substrates, and then assessed through time-lapse phase-contrast imaging, scanning electron microscopy, and biochemical assessment of metabolic activity and nucleic acid content. In summary, the silk film in vitro culture system offers a customizable experimental setup suitable to the study of cell-surface interactions on a biomaterial substrate, which can then be optimized and then translated to in vivo models. Observations using the culture system presented here are currently being used to aid in applications ranging from basic cell interactions to medical device design, and thus are relevant to a broad range of biomedical fields.

Silk Film Culture System for in vitro Analysis and Biomaterial Design

Silk films are a novel class of biomaterials readily customizable for an array of biomedical applications. The presented silk film culture system is highly adaptable to a variety of in vitro analyses. This system represents a biomaterial design platform offering in vitro optimization before direct translation to in vivo models.

Silk films are promising protein-based biomaterials that can be fabricated with high fidelity and economically within a research laboratory environment ...

Self-reporting Scaffolds for 3-Dimensional Cell Culture

Culturing cells in 3D on appropriate scaffolds is thought to better mimic the in vivo microenvironment and increase cell-cell interactions. The resulting 3D cellular construct can often be more relevant to studying the molecular events and cell-cell interactions than similar experiments studied in 2D. To create effective 3D cultures with high cell viability throughout the scaffold the culture conditions such as oxygen and pH need to be carefully controlled as gradients in analyte concentration can exist throughout the 3D construct. Here we describe the methods of preparing biocompatible pH responsive sol-gel nanosensors and their incorporation into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) electrospun scaffolds along with their subsequent preparation for the culture of mammalian cells. The pH responsive scaffolds can be used as tools to determine microenvironmental pH within a 3D cellular construct. Furthermore, we detail the delivery of pH responsive nanosensors to the intracellular environment of mammalian cells whose growth was supported by electrospun PLGA scaffolds. The cytoplasmic location of the pH responsive nanosensors can be utilized to monitor intracellular pH (pHi) during ongoing experimentation.

Biocompatible pH responsive sol-gel nanosensors can be incorporated into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) electrospun scaffolds. The produced self-reporting scaffolds can be used for in&#160;situ monitoring of microenvironmental conditions whilst culturing cells upon the scaffold. This is beneficial as the 3D cellular construct can be monitored in real-time without disturbing the experiment.

Culturing cells in 3D on appropriate scaffolds is thought to better mimic the in vivo microenvironment and increase cell-cell interactions. The resulting ...

Eye Irritation Test (EIT) for Hazard Identification of Eye Irritating Chemicals using Reconstructed Human Cornea-like Epithelial (RhCE) Tissue Model

To comply with the Seventh Amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive and EU REACH legislation, validated non-animal alternative methods for reliable and accurate assessment of ocular toxicity in man are needed. To address this need, we have developed an eye irritation test (EIT) which utilizes a three dimensional reconstructed human cornea-like epithelial (RhCE) tissue model that is based on normal human cells. The EIT is able to separate ocular&#160;irritants and corrosives (GHS Categories 1 and 2 combined) and those that do not require labeling (GHS No Category). The test utilizes two separate protocols, one designed for liquid chemicals and a second, similar protocol for solid test articles. The EIT prediction model uses a single exposure period (30 min for liquids, 6 hr for solids) and a single tissue viability cut-off (60.0% as determined by the MTT assay). Based on the results for 83 chemicals (44 liquids and 39 solids) EIT achieved 95.5/68.2/ and 81.8% sensitivity/specificity and accuracy (SS&#38;A) for liquids, 100.0/68.4/ and 84.6% SS&#38;A for solids, and 97.6/68.3/ and 83.1% for overall SS&#38;A. The EIT will contribute significantly to classifying the ocular irritation potential of a wide range of liquid and solid chemicals without the use of animals to meet regulatory testing requirements. The EpiOcular EIT method was implemented in 2015 into the OECD Test Guidelines as TG 492.

Eye Irritation Test EIT for Hazard Identification of Eye Irritating Chemicals using Reconstructed Human Cornea-like Epithelial RhCE Tissue Model

We have developed an eye irritation test which utilizes a three dimensional reconstructed human cornea-like epithelial (RhCE) tissue model. The test is able to discriminate between ocular irritant and corrosive materials (GHS Categories 1 and 2 combined) and those that do not require labeling (GHS No Category).

To comply with the Seventh Amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive and EU REACH legislation, validated non-animal alternative methods for reliable and ...

Adapting the Electrospinning Process to Provide Three Unique Environments for a Tri-layered In Vitro Model of the Airway Wall

Electrospinning is a highly adaptable method producing porous 3D fibrous scaffolds that can be exploited in in vitro cell culture. Alterations to intrinsic parameters within the process allow a high degree of control over scaffold characteristics including fiber diameter, alignment and porosity. By developing scaffolds with similar dimensions and topographies to organ- or tissue-specific extracellular matrices (ECM), micro-environments representative to those that cells are exposed to in situ can be created. 
The airway bronchiole wall, comprised of three main micro-environments, was selected as a model tissue. Using decellularized airway ECM as a guide, we electrospun the non-degradable polymer, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), by three different protocols to produce three individual electrospun scaffolds optimized for epithelial, fibroblast or smooth muscle cell-culture. Using a commercially available bioreactor system, we stably co-cultured the three cell-types to provide an in vitro model of the airway wall over an extended time period.
This model highlights the potential for such methods being employed in in vitro diagnostic studies investigating important inter-cellular cross-talk mechanisms or assessing novel pharmaceutical targets, by providing a relevant platform to allow the culture of fully differentiated adult cells within 3D, tissue-specific environments.

Adapting the Electrospinning Process to Provide Three Unique Environments for a Tri-layered In Vitro Model of the Airway Wall

Advancements in biomaterial technologies enable the development of three-dimensional multi-cell-type constructs. We have developed electrospinning protocols to produce three individual scaffolds to culture the main structural cells of the airway to provide a 3D in vitro model of the airway bronchiole wall.

Electrospinning is a highly adaptable method producing porous 3D fibrous scaffolds that can be exploited in in vitro cell culture. Alterations to ...

Preparation and Analysis of In Vitro Three Dimensional Breast Carcinoma Surrogates

Three dimensional (3D) culture is a more physiologically relevant method to model cell behavior in vitro than two dimensional culture. Carcinomas, including breast carcinomas, are complex 3D tissues composed of cancer epithelial cells and stromal components, including fibroblasts and extracellular matrix (ECM). Yet most in vitro models of breast carcinoma consist only of cancer epithelial cells, omitting the stroma and, therefore, the 3D architecture of a tumor in vivo. Appropriate 3D modeling of carcinoma is important for accurate understanding of tumor biology, behavior, and response to therapy. However, the duration of culture and volume of 3D models is limited by the availability of oxygen and nutrients within the culture. Herein, we demonstrate a method in which breast carcinoma epithelial cells and stromal fibroblasts are incorporated into ECM to generate a 3D breast cancer surrogate that includes stroma and can be cultured as a solid 3D structure or by using a perfusion bioreactor system to deliver oxygen and nutrients. Following setup and an initial growth period, surrogates can be used for preclinical drug testing. Alternatively, the cellular and matrix components of the surrogate can be modified to address a variety of biological questions. After culture, surrogates are fixed and processed to paraffin, in a manner similar to the handling of clinical breast carcinoma specimens, for evaluation of parameters of interest. The evaluation of one such parameter, the density of cells present, is explained, where ImageJ and CellProfiler image analysis software systems are applied to photomicrographs of histologic sections of surrogates to quantify the number of nucleated cells per area. This can be used as an indicator of the change in cell number over time or the change in cell number resulting from varying growth conditions and treatments.

Preparation and Analysis of In Vitro Three Dimensional Breast Carcinoma Surrogates

We demonstrate a method to generate 3D breast cancer surrogates, which can be cultured using a perfusion bioreactor system to deliver oxygen and nutrients. Following growth, surrogates are fixed and processed to paraffin for evaluation of parameters of interest. The evaluation of one such parameter, cell density, is explained.

Three dimensional (3D) culture is a more physiologically relevant method to model cell behavior in vitro than two dimensional culture. Carcinomas, ...

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Cells change migration patterns in response to chemical stimuli, including the gradients of the stimuli. Cellular migration in the direction of a chemical gradient, known as chemotaxis, plays an important role in development, the immune response, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. While chemotaxis modulates the migration of single cells as well as collections of cells in vivo, in vitro research focuses on single-cell chemotaxis, partly due to the lack of the proper experimental tools. To fill that gap, described here is a unique experimental system that combines microfluidics and micropatterning to demonstrate the effects of chemical gradients on collective cell migration. Furthermore, traction microscopy and monolayer stress microscopy are incorporated into the system to characterize changes in cellular force on the substrate as well as between neighboring cells. As proof-of-concept, the migration of micropatterned circular islands of Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells is tested under a gradient of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a known scattering factor. It is found that cells located near the higher concentration of HGF migrate faster than those on the opposite side within a cell island. Within the same island, cellular traction is similar on both sides, but intercellular stress is much lower on the side of higher HGF concentration. This novel experimental system can provide new opportunities to studying the mechanics of chemotactic migration by cellular collectives.

Collective cell migration in development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis is often guided by the gradients of growth factors or signaling molecules. Described here is an experimental system combining traction microscopy with a microfluidic system and a demonstration of how to quantify the mechanics of collective migration under biochemical gradient.

Cells change migration patterns in response to chemical stimuli, including the gradients of the stimuli. Cellular migration in the direction of a chemical ...

Production of Autologous Platelet-Rich Plasma for Boosting In Vitro Human Fibroblast Expansion

There is currently great clinical interest in the use of autologous fibroblasts for skin repair. In most cases, culture of skin cells in vitro is required. However, cell culture using xenogenic or allogenic culture media has some disadvantages (i.e., risk of infectious agent transmission or slow cell expansion). Here, an autologous culture system is developed for the expansion of human skin fibroblast cells in vitro using a patient&#8217;s own platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Human dermal fibroblasts are isolated from the patient while undergoing abdominoplasty. Cultures are followed for up to 7 days using a medium supplemented with either fetal bovine serum (FBS) or PRP. Blood cell content in PRP preparations, proliferation, and fibroblast differentiation are assessed. This protocol describes the method for obtaining a standardized, non-activated preparation of PRP using a dedicated medical device. The preparation requires only a medical device (CuteCell-PRP) and centrifuge. This device is suitable under sufficient medical practice conditions and is a one-step, apyrogenic, and sterile closed system that requires a single, soft spin centrifugation of 1,500 x g for 5 min. After centrifugation, the blood components are separated, and the platelet-rich plasma is easily collected. This device allows a quick, consistent, and standardized preparation of PRP that can be used as a cell culture supplement for in vitro expansion of human cells. The PRP obtained here contains a 1.5-fold platelet concentration compared to whole blood together, with a preferential removal of red and white blood cells. It is shown that PRP presents a boosting effect in cell proliferation compared to FBS (7.7x) and that fibroblasts are activated upon PRP treatment.

This protocol presents a device that produces PRP to boost the in vitro expansion of cells in a 100% autologous fibroblast culture system.

There is currently great clinical interest in the use of autologous fibroblasts for skin repair. In most cases, culture of skin cells in vitro is ...

In Vitro Model of Human Cutaneous Hypertrophic Scarring using Macromolecular Crowding

It has been shown that in vivo tissues are highly crowded by proteins, nucleic acids, ribonucleoproteins, polysaccharides, etc. The following protocol applies a macromolecular crowding (MMC) technique to mimic this physiological crowding through the addition of neutral polymers (crowders) to cell cultures in vitro. Previous studies using Ficoll or dextran as crowders demonstrate that the expression of collagen I and fibronectin in WI38 and WS-1 cell lines are significantly enhanced using the MMC technique. However, this technique has not been validated in primary hypertrophic scar-derived human skin fibroblasts (hHSFs). As hypertrophic scarring arises from the excessive deposition of collagen, this protocol aims to construct a collagen-rich in vitro hypertrophic scar model by applying the MMC technique with hHSFs. This optimized MMC model has been shown to possess more similarities with in vivo scar tissue compared to traditional 2-dimensional (2-D) cell culture systems. In addition, it is cost-effective, time-efficient, and ethically desirable compared to animal models. Therefore, the optimized model reported here offers an advanced &#8220;in vivo-like&#8221; model for hypertrophic scar-related studies.

This protocol describes the use of macromolecular crowding to create an in vitro human hypertrophic scar tissue model that resembles in vivo conditions. When cultivated in a crowded macromolecular environment, human skin fibroblasts exhibit phenotypes, biochemistry, physiology, and functional characteristics resembling scar tissue.

It has been shown that in vivo tissues are highly crowded by proteins, nucleic acids, ribonucleoproteins, polysaccharides, etc. The following protocol ...