Name: a static self-directed method for generating brain organoids from human embryonic stem cells
Uploaded: 2020-03-04T12:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Static Self-Directed Method for Generating Brain Organoids from Human Embryonic Stem Cells at JoVE.com

We thank the Yale Stem Cell Core (YSCC), and the Yale Cancer Center (YCC) for assistance. We thank Dr. Jung Kim for his neuropathology review. This work was supported by Connecticut Regenerative Medicine Research Fund, March of Dimes, and NHLBI R01HL131793 (S.G.K.), the Yale Cancer Center and the Yale Cancer Biology Training Program NCI CA193200 (E.B.) and a generous unrestricted gift from Joseph and Lucille Madri.

1. Stem Cell Maintenance
<ol>
	<li>Maintain H9 hESCs on a layer of growth factor reduced basement membrane matrix (see the Table of Materials, henceforth simply referred to as matrix) according to the manufacturer&#39;s instructions.
	<ol>
		<li>To coat one 6-well plate or one 10 cm dish, combine 100 &#181;L of matrix with 5.9 mL of ice-cold Dulbecco&#39;s modified Eagle medium (DMEM)/F12 media. Wrap plates in paraffin film and store overnight at 4 &#176;C. Use them on the next day for passaging cells ...

<ol>
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A., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cerebral+organoids+model+human+brain+development+and+microcephaly.">Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly.</a> Nature. 501 (7467), 373-379 (2013).</li><li>Li, X. J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Specification+of+motoneurons+from+human+embryonic+stem+cells.">Specification of motoneurons from human embryonic stem cells.</a> Nature Biotechnology. 23 (2), 215-221 (2005).</li><li>Zhang, S. C., Wernig, M., Duncan, I. D., Brustle, O., Thomson, J. 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A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Matrigel:+a+complex+protein+mixture+required+for+optimal+growth+of+cell+culture.">Matrigel: a complex protein mixture required for optimal growth of cell culture.</a> Proteomics. 10 (9), 1886-1890 (2010).</li><li>Qian, X., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Brain-Region-Specific+Organoids+Using+Mini-bioreactors+for+Modeling+ZIKV+Exposure.">Brain-Region-Specific Organoids Using Mini-bioreactors for Modeling ZIKV Exposure.</a> Cell. 165 (5), 1238-1254 (2016).</li><li>Sloan, S. A., Andersen, J., Pasca, A. M., Birey, F., Pasca, S. P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Generation+and+assembly+of+human+brain+region-specific+three-dimensional+cultures.">Generation and assembly of human brain region-specific three-dimensional cultures.</a> Nature Protocols. 13 (9), 2062-2085 (2018).</li><li>Kelava, I., Lancaster, M. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Stem+Cell+Models+of+Human+Brain+Development.">Stem Cell Models of Human Brain Development.</a> Cell Stem Cell. 18 (6), 736-748 (2016).</li><li>Boisvert, E. M., Means, R. E., Michaud, M., Madri, J. A., Katz, S. 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A., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=An+in+vivo+model+of+functional+and+vascularized+human+brain+organoids.">An in vivo model of functional and vascularized human brain organoids.</a> Nature Biotechnology. 36 (5), 432-441 (2018).</li><li>Pham, M. T., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Generation+of+human+vascularized+brain+organoids.">Generation of human vascularized brain organoids.</a> Neuroreport. 29 (7), 588-593 (2018).</li><li>Boisvert, E. M., Denton, K., Lei, L., Li, X. 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Similar to other organoid models, this is an artificial system that comes with several caveats. Although there was little batch to batch variation in terms of overall expression levels, individual organoids did exhibit differences. For example, the location of Sox-2 positive areas were not identical in every organoid (Figure 3). While qPCR is suitable to look for overall changes in batches of cells, additional techniques such as single cell RNAseq will be utilized in future studies to gather more informa...

Due to myriad practical and ethical limitations, there has been a great deal of difficulty in studying the human brain. While studies utilizing rodents have been critical to our understanding of the human brain, the mouse brain has many dissimilarities1,2. Interestingly, mice have a neuronal density that is at least 7 times less than the primate brain3,4. Although primates are closer to humans than rodents from an evolutionary standpoint, it is not practical for most researchers to work with them. The purpose of this protocol was to recapitulate many important features of the human brain using a simplified and less expensive method without the need for a heterologous basement membrane matrix or exogenous growth factors while maintaining brain cell diversity and cellular organization.
Formative work from the Sasai lab used the serum free culture of embryoid bodies (SFEBq) method to generate two- and three- dimensional neuronal cell types from signalized embryonic stem cells (ESCs)5,6. Many human brain organoid methods have followed a relatively similar path from signalized ESCs7,8. In contrast, this protocol starts with clusters of detached human ESCs (hESCs), similar to the initial steps of seminal work of the Thomson and Zhang laboratories prior to the plating steps9,10 as well as the initial step of the brain organoid protocol of the Pasca laboratory before the addition of exogenous growth factors11. Basement membrane matrices (e.g., matrigel) have been utilized in many brain organoid protocols and it has been shown to be an effective scaffold8. However, most commonly used basement membrane matrices do not come without complications as they co-purify with unknown quantities of growth factors with batch to batch variability during production12. In addition, these matrices can complicate imaging, and increase the risk of contamination and cost.
While human brain organoids can be used to answer many questions, there are certain limitations to bear in mind. For one, starting from embryonic stem cells, organoids more closely resemble immature brains than aged brains and as such may not be ideal models for diseases that occur in old age, like Alzheimer&#39;s disease. Second, while our protocol found markers of forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain development which are useful to study the effect of a treatment or disease on cells from multiple brain regions in concert, other protocols can be followed to concentrate on specific brain regions13,14. Finally, another limitation of organoid models is that of size, while the average length of a human brain approximately 167 mm, brain organoids made with the use of agitation grow up to 4 mm8 and the organoids formed by this protocol grow to 1-2 mm by 10 weeks. Nonetheless, this protocol provides an important tool to study human brain tissue and the interaction of multiple cell types.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa Fluor 488 goat anti-mouse</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>A11029</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa Fluor 546 goat anti-rabbit</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>A11035</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>B27 Supplement</td>
			<td>Gibco, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>17504-044</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>bFGF</td>
			<td>Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA</td>
			<td>PHG0263</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BSA</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>A9647</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BX43 microscope</td>
			<td>Olympus, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DAPI stain</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>D1306</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dispase</td>
			<td>STEMCELL Technologies, Vancouver, Canada</td>
			<td>07913</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DMEM/F12</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>11330-032</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DPBS</td>
			<td>Gibco, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td><a href="https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/10010023" target="_blank">10010023</a></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>FluroSave</td>
			<td>MilliporeSigma, Burlington, MA</td>
			<td>345789</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GFAP antibody</td>
			<td>NeuroMab, Davis, CA</td>
			<td>N206A/8</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Growth Factor Reduced Matrigel (Matrix)</td>
			<td>Corning, Corning, NY, USA</td>
			<td>356231</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>H9 hESCs</td>
			<td>WiCell, Madison, WI, USA</td>
			<td>WA09</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Heparin</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>9041-08-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>iQ SYBR Green Supermix</td>
			<td>Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA</td>
			<td>1708880</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>iScript cDNA Synthesis Kit</td>
			<td>Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA</td>
			<td>1708891</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>L-glutamine</td>
			<td>Gibco, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>25030-081</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Monothioglycerol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>M6145</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mTESR media</td>
			<td>STEMCELL Technologies, Vancouver, Canada</td>
			<td>85850</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>N2 NeuroPlex</td>
			<td>Gemini Bio Products, West Sacramento, CA, USA</td>
			<td>400-163</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nanodrop</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>ND-2000</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NEAA</td>
			<td>Gibco, Waltham, MA, USA</td>
			<td>11140-050</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Normal Donkey Serum (NDS)</td>
			<td>ImmunoResearch Laboratories Inc., West Grove, PA, USA</td>
			<td><a href="https://www.jacksonimmuno.com/catalog/products/017-000-121" target="_blank">017-000-121</a></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>OCT</td>
			<td>Sakura Finetek, Torrance, CA, USA</td>
			<td>25608-930</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PFA</td>
			<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences, Hatfield, PA</td>
			<td>RT15710</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>qPCR machine</td>
			<td>Bio-Rad, CFX96, Hercules, CA, USA</td>
			<td>1855196</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RNeasy kit</td>
			<td>Qiagen, Hilden, Germany</td>
			<td>74104</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sox2</td>
			<td>MilliporeSigma, Burlington, MA</td>
			<td>AB5603</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>TMS-F microscope</td>
			<td>Nikon, Melville, NY, USA</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triton X-100</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>T8787-100ML</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultra-low attachment T75 flasks</td>
			<td>Corning, Corning, NY, USA</td>
			<td>3814</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

a static self-directed method for generating brain organoids from human embryonic stem cells

Human brain organoids differentiated from embryonic stem cells offer the unique opportunity to study complicated interactions of multiple cell types in a three-dimensional system. Here we present a relatively straightforward and inexpensive method that yields brain organoids. In this protocol human pluripotent stem cells are broken into small clusters instead of single cells and grown in basic media without a heterologous basement membrane matrix or exogenous growth factors, allowing the intrinsic developmental cues to shape the organoid&#39;s growth. This simple system produces a diversity of brain cell types including glial and microglial cells, stem cells, and neurons of the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Organoids generated from this protocol also display hallmarks of appropriate temporal and spatial organization demonstrated by brightfield images, histology, immunofluorescence and real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Because these organoids contain cell types from various parts of the brain, they can be utilized for studying a multitude of diseases. For example, in a recent paper we demonstrated the use of organoids generated from this protocol for studying the effects of hypoxia on the human brain. This approach can be used to investigate an array of otherwise difficult to study conditions such as neurodevelopmental handicaps, genetic disorders, and neurologic diseases.

Figure 1 shows representative brightfield images of several time points to demonstrate what the cells/organoids look like throughout the different stages of the protocol. The hESCs were removed from the tissue culture plate, broken into small pieces, and placed in a T75 ultra-low attachment flask where they formed spheres. It is important to note that the cells look bright and similar in size, without dark, dying cells in the centers of these clusters. The cells were gradually weaned off bFG...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Static Self-Directed Method for Generating Brain Organoids from Human Embryonic Stem Cells at JoVE.com

A Static Self-Directed Method for Generating Brain Organoids from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

This protocol was generated as a means to produce brain organoids in a simplified, low cost manner without exogenous growth factors or basement membrane matrix while still maintaining the diversity of brain cell types and many features of cellular organization.

Human brain organoids differentiated from embryonic stem cells offer the unique opportunity to study complicated interactions of multiple cell types in a ...

Human brain organoids are a significant tool to study disease in a system that is easily manipulated and incorporates a human setting and the appropriate interaction of multiple cell types. This technique can be applied to study numerous diseases of the brain, including neurodevelopmental disorders, toxic insults, and the growth and treatment of cancer in the brain. The main advantage of this protocol is the ability to generate highly reproducible brain organoids with a broad variety of neuronal cell types.This is done using a very simplistic workflow that could be accomplished by most laboratories. And these are produced in a temporary appropriate manner without the influence from specialized growth factors or undefined matrices making it a very simple and cost effective system. To begin, combine 100 microliters of matrix with 5.9 milliliters of ice cold Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium or F12 media in a 15 milliliter conical tube.Coat each well in a six-well plate with one milliliter of the membrane matrix. Wrap the plate in paraffin film and store overnight at four degrees Celsius. The next day, aspirate excess media from each well, rinse the wells with F12, and add H9 hESCS in a total volume of two milliliters of mTeSR1 media per well.Culture the cells from week to week. Supply daily with two milliliters of mTeSR1 media and place the plate in a 37 degree Celsius low oxygen incubator with 5%oxygen and 5%carbon dioxide. Use glass tools to weed out differentiating cells from the culture between passages.Refresh the media daily. Cells should be passaged four to six days prior to utilizing the H9 cells for organoid production. To passage the cells, start by rinsing them with DMEM F12 media and aspirating the excess liquid.After rinsing, add protease solution and incubate the cells for 40 minutes in order for colonies to float within the well. Next, wash the cells three times using DMEM F12 and if necessary titrate to make the pieces smaller. Then distribute the cells at an approximate one-to-eight ratio over four six-well plates and place the plates in the incubator and feed daily.After four to six days, the cells reach approximately 80%confluency. Transition them to a regular incubator. Dilute the protease stock solution to a working concentration by adding one milliliter of the stock solution to five milliliters of DMEM or F12 medium per each six-well plate of hESCS.Aspirate and remove the cell culture media, then cover the hESCS with the protease solution. Place the plates in the incubator for 10 to 15 minutes or until the edges of the colonies round up and begin to separate from the matrix but before they round up completely. Tilt the plate, aspirate the protease solution, and gently wash the cells with two milliliters of DMEM or F12 for each well three times.Make sure the colonies stay attached to the matrix. So it's critical that the pieces of ES cells are in the appropriate size so make sure that they're in dispase for the appropriate amount of time. If they're in there for too short of a time, it can be very difficult to flush them off and break them apart.And if they're in there for too long, they can actually just come off during the wash steps. Add back about one to 1.5 milliliters of fresh mTeSR media to each well and flush the cells off the plate into a 50 milliliter conical tube using gentle pipetting. Aspirate and dispense hESCS within the plate until they reach approximately 1/30th of their original size.Now the colony clusters resemble 250 to 350 micrometer sized pieces. Transfer the cells into a single ultra low attachment T75 flask containing 30 milliliters of mTeSR media without bFGF. The next day, tilt the flask such that the live cells pool in the corner.If there are a large number of cells that have adhered to the bottom of the flask, use a 10 milliliter pipette to transfer the cells to a new flask. Expect to have a high population of dead cells for the first few days. Once the cells settle, aspirate off the media and dead cells leaving about 10 milliliters of media containing the live cells and add 20 milliliters of low bFGF media supplemented with 30 nanograms per milliliter of bFGF.After two days, check the cells. Most of the cells should look healthy and bright. However, if more than a third of the cells appear dark, tilt the flask and replace 20 milliliters of media with 20 milliliters of low bFGF media supplemented with 20 nanograms per milliliter of bFGF.On day three, remove half of the media and replace with 15 milliliters of hESC media supplemented with 10 nanograms per milliliter of bFGF. On day five, replace half of the media with 15 milliliters of neural induction media. After that, every other day, replace half of the medium with neural induction media.After three weeks in culture, add 100X Penicillin-Streptomycin to the media at a final concentration of 1X if desired. Refresh half the media every other day. In this protocol, the formed brain organoids looked bright and similar in size without dark dying cells in the centers of these clusters.The cells were gradually weaned off bFGF. On day five, they were placed into neural induction media and they remained in this media throughout the culture period. Although the organoids got larger and thus darker over time, the neural rosette-like structures expanded which indicates the initiation of neural differentiation and contains features of the embryonic neural tube.To take a more in-depth look at the gene expression within the cells, qPCR analysis was performed. The glutamate transporter VLGUT1 was expressed at two and a half weeks, increased at five weeks, and remained consistent through five months of culture. A forebrain marker Foxg1 was expressed at low levels until five weeks in culture.The deep layer marker Tbr1 peaked around five weeks and decreased subsequently. Whereas the expression of the upper layer marker Satb2, the ventral marker Eng1, the hindbrain spinal cord marker Hoxb4, as well as the oligodendrocyte marker Olig2 all increased over time. In contrast, the stem cell marker Sox2 decreased over time.The glial marker GFAP peaked at five weeks and remained relatively constant subsequently. Remember to take the utmost care when handling ES cells in early stage organoids to avoid contamination as they're grown without antibiotics and also remember to feed according to schedule. Following this procedure, you can evaluate the organoids using techniques such as quantitative RT-PCR for gene expression and immunofluorescence for protein expression and localization.Using this technique, we were able to study the ability of a small molecule to alleviate aspects of human neonatal hypoxic injury as modeled in a hypoxia chamber. It is significant that these human brain organoids behaved similarly to in vivo mouse experiments.

Research

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Enhancers control cell identity by regulating tissue-specific gene expression in a position and orientation independent manner. These enhancers are often ...

A Quick and Efficient Method for the Purification of Endoderm Cells Generated from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

The differentiation capabilities of pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) allow a potential therapeutic application for cell ...

Rapid, Directed Differentiation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells from Human Embryonic or Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

We describe a robust method to direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). The purpose of providing ...

Generation of Standardized and Reproducible Forebrain-type Cerebral Organoids from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

The human cortex is highly expanded and exhibits a complex structure with specific functional areas, providing higher brain function, such as cognition. ...

Engineering Transplantation-suitable Retinal Pigment Epithelium Tissue Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Several pathological conditions of the eye affect the functionality and/or the survival of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). These include some forms ...

In Vitro Generation of Somite Derivatives from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

In response to signals such as WNTs, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), and sonic hedgehog (SHH) secreted from surrounding tissues, somites (SMs) give ...

Generation and Culture of Lingual Organoids Derived from Adult Mouse Taste Stem Cells

The sense of taste is mediated by taste buds on the tongue, which are composed of rapidly renewing taste receptor cells (TRCs). This continual turnover is ...

A Simplified Method for Generating Kidney Organoids from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Kidney organoids generated from hPSCs have provided an unlimited source of renal tissue. Human kidney organoids are an invaluable tool for studying kidney ...

Establishing Organoids from Human Tooth as a Powerful Tool Toward Mechanistic Research and Regenerative Therapy

Teeth are of key importance in life not only for food mastication and speech but also for psychological well-being. Knowledge on human tooth development ...