We thank Kwon laboratory members for helpful discussions. This work was supported by grants from NHLBI/NIH (R01HL111198) and Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF).

All mice were maintained at an American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC)&#8211;accredited animal facility at the Johns Hopkins University and housed in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approved all experimental protocols.
1. Experimental Preparation
<ol>
	<li>Coat 12-well plate with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) in Phosphate Buffered Solution (PBS) for 60 min....

<ol>
	<li>Kelly, R. G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+second+heart+field.">The second heart field.</a> Curr Top Dev Biol. 100, 33-65 (2012).</li><li>Bruneau, B. G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+developmental+genetics+of+congenital+heart+disease.">The developmental genetics of congenital heart disease.</a> Nature. 451, 943-948 (2008).</li><li>Tzahor, E., Evans, S. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Pharyngeal+mesoderm+development+during+embryogenesis:+implications+for+both+heart+and+head+myogenesis.">Pharyngeal mesoderm development during embryogenesis: implications for both heart and head myogenesis.</a> Cardiovasc Res. 91, 196-202 (2011).</li><li>Uosaki, H., 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=Direct+Contact+with+Endoderm-like+Cells+Efficiently+Induces+Cardiac+Progenitors+from+Mouse+and+Human+Pluripotent+Stem+Cells.">Direct Contact with Endoderm-like Cells Efficiently Induces Cardiac Progenitors from Mouse and Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.</a> PLoS One. 7 (10), e46413 (2012).</li><li>Cheng, P., 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=Fibronectin+mediates+mesendodermal+cell+fate+decisions.">Fibronectin mediates mesendodermal cell fate decisions.</a> Development. 140, 2587-2596 (2013).</li><li>Kwon, C., 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=A+regulatory+pathway+involving+Notch1/beta-catenin/Isl1+determines+cardiac+progenitor+cell+fate.">A regulatory pathway involving Notch1/beta-catenin/Isl1 determines cardiac progenitor cell fate.</a> Nature cell biology. 11, 951-957 (2009).</li><li>Shenje, L. 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=Precardiac+deletion+of+Numb+and+Numblike+reveals+renewal+of+cardiac+progenitors.">Precardiac deletion of Numb and Numblike reveals renewal of cardiac progenitors.</a> Elife. 3, e02164 (2014).</li><li>Grevellec, A., Tucker, A. S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+pharyngeal+pouches+and+clefts:+Development,+evolution,+structure+and+derivatives.">The pharyngeal pouches and clefts: Development, evolution, structure and derivatives.</a> Semin Cell Dev Biol. 21, 325-332 (2010).</li><li>Kwon, C., Cordes, K. R., Srivastava, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Wnt/beta-catenin+signaling+acts+at+multiple+developmental+stages+to+promote+mammalian+cardiogenesis.">Wnt/beta-catenin signaling acts at multiple developmental stages to promote mammalian cardiogenesis.</a> Cell Cycle. 7, 3815-3818 (2008).</li><li>Cho, G. S., Fernandez, L., Kwon, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Regenerative+medicine+for+the+heart:+perspectives+on+stem-cell+therapy.">Regenerative medicine for the heart: perspectives on stem-cell therapy.</a> Antioxid Redox Signal. 21, 2018-2031 (2014).</li></ol>

In this video, we demonstrate how to isolate and culture first and second pharyngeal arches of 9.5 days old mouse embryos. Pharyngeal arches are transient, segmented bulges that appear on the craniolateral side of developing embryos 9, which contain multi-potent cardiac progenitor cells&#8212;building blocks to make the heart during embryogenesis 10,11&#8212;in second arches and head muscle progenitors in first arches 8.
Dissection of pharyngeal arches requires...

Pharyngeal mesoderm cells give rise to parts of the heart and the pharyngeal muscles. During embryonic development, multipotent cardiac progenitor cells from the second heart field migrate from the pharyngeal mesoderm and populate the cardiac outflow tract and right ventricle, and their abnormal development is closely associated with congenital heart disease&#8212;the leading cause of birth defects and birth defect-related deaths in humans 1-3. Recent studies have demonstrated that pharyngeal mesoderm contributes to head muscles, in addition to the heart, making the mesoderm a critical part of the cardio-craniofacial development 4. Thus, the developmental processes including induction, proliferation, and differentiation of head and heart progenitors in the pharyngeal mesoderm are under active investigation 5-7.
Until recently, it remained unknown whether cardiac progenitor cells undergo expansion without differentiation, partly due to the lack of information on their cellular environment. Our recent study suggests that pharyngeal arches serve as a microenvironment for the renewal of cardiac and muscle progenitors and can be cultured ex vivo over several weeks 8. This explant method offers a novel and unique opportunity to study the development of cardio-craniofacial progenitors ex vivo.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
	<colgroup>
		<col span="4" />
	</colgroup>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>FBS</td>
			<td>Hyclone</td>
			<td>SH30071.03</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PBS + Ca2 + Mg2</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>21-030-CV</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10cm petri plates</td>
			<td>Fishersci</td>
			<td>FB0875712</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Scissor</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td colspan="2">Dissection forceps</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td colspan="2">Serum Free Media:</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IMDM</td>
			<td>Cellgro</td>
			<td>15-016-CV</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ham&#8217;s F12</td>
			<td>Cellgro</td>
			<td>10-080-CV</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>N2-SUPPLEMENT</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>17502-048</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>B27-retinoic acid</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>12587-010</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10% BSA (in PBS) &#224; (Invitrogen Cat#. P2489)</td>
			<td>Life Sciences</td>
			<td>P2489</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>100X Glutamine (Gibco Cat.# 25030-081)</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>35050-61</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>100X Pen/Strep (Gibco Cat#. 15070-063)</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>15140-122</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

ex vivo culture of pharyngeal arches to study heart and muscle progenitors and their niche

The pharyngeal mesoderm of developing embryos contributes to broad regions of head and heart musculature. We have developed a novel method to study head and heart progenitor cell development with pharyngeal arches (also known as branchial arches) ex vivo. Using this method, we have recently described that the second pharyngeal arch contains self-renewing heart progenitors and serves as a microenvironment for expansion of the progenitors during mouse heart development. The progenitor cells remain undifferentiated and expansive inside the arch, but quickly become functional cardiomyocytes as they migrate out of the arch. We also reported that first pharyngeal arch contains muscle progenitors giving rise to myotubes after leaving the arch. Here, we demonstrate the procedure for the dissection and ex vivo culture of first and second pharyngeal arches from developing mouse embryos. The method enables one to study head and heart progenitor/muscle development, including cardiomyocyte and myotube formation in detail ex vivo.

During development, facial muscle and heart progenitors can be traced as they proliferate and migrate from the 1st and 2nd pharyngeal arch, to become head and heart musculature, respectively (Figure 1A, A&#8217; and A&#8217;&#8217;). Culturing pharyngeal arches offers a unique way to study heart and muscle development in detail ex vivo. After dissection and attachment of pharyngeal arches, migrating cells from attached arches can be observe...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Ex Vivo Culture of Pharyngeal Arches to Study Heart and Muscle Progenitors and Their Niche at JoVE.com

Ex Vivo Culture of Pharyngeal Arches to Study Heart and Muscle Progenitors and Their Niche

Here, we present a protocol to culture pharyngeal arches to study the biology of heart and muscle progenitor cells and their microenvironment.

Ex Vivo Culture of Pharyngeal Arches to Study Heart and Muscle Progenitors and Their Niche

The pharyngeal mesoderm of developing embryos contributes to broad regions of head and heart musculature. We have developed a novel method to study head ...

ex-vivo-culture-pharyngeal-arches-to-study-heart-muscle-progenitors

Research

JoVE Journal

Developmental Biology

7.7K visualizações.  Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Here, we present a protocol to culture pharyngeal arches to study the biology of heart and muscle progenitor cells and their microenvironment.