University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Neuroscience

Analyzing Mitochondrial Transport and Morphology in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Yongchao Mou^1,2, Sukhada Mukte¹, Eric Chai¹, Joshua Dein³, Xue-Jun Li^1,2

¹Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford, ²Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, ³MD Program, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford

Impaired mitochondrial transport and morphology are involved in various neurodegenerative diseases. The presented protocol uses induced pluripotent stem cell-derived forebrain neurons to assess mitochondrial transport and morphology in hereditary spastic paraplegia. This protocol allows characterization of mitochondrial trafficking along axons and analysis of their morphology, which will facilitate the study of neurodegenerative disease.

Biology

Demonstration of the DNA Fiber Assay for Investigating DNA Damage and Repair Dynamics Induced by Nanoparticles

Shirali Patel¹, Paul Chastain^1,2, Divya Bijukumar¹

¹Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford, ²Department of Health Sciences Education, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford

The methodology assists in the analysis of variation in DNA replication dynamics in the presence of nanoparticles. Different methodologies can be adopted based on the cytotoxicity level of the material of interest. In addition, a description of the image analysis is provided to help in DNA fiber analysis.