Visualizing and Analyzing Intracellular Transport of Organelles and Other Cargos in Astrocytes

Summary

Here we describe an in vitro live-imaging method to visualize intracellular transport of organelles and trafficking of plasma membrane proteins in murine astrocytes. This protocol also presents an image analysis methodology to determine cargo transport itineraries and kinetics.

Abstract

Astrocytes are among the most abundant cell types in the adult brain, where they play key roles in a multiplicity of functions. As a central player in brain homeostasis, astrocytes supply neurons with vital metabolites and buffer extracellular water, ions, and glutamate. An integral component of the “tri-partite” synapse, astrocytes are also critical in the formation, pruning, maintenance, and modulation of synapses. To enable these highly interactive functions, astrocytes communicate among themselves and with other glial cells, neurons, the brain vasculature, and the extracellular environment through a multitude of specialized membrane proteins that include cell adhesion molecules, aquaporins, ion channels, neurotransmitter transporters, and gap junction molecules. To support this dynamic flux, astrocytes, like neurons, rely on tightly coordinated and efficient intracellular transport. Unlike neurons, where intracellular trafficking has been extensively delineated, microtubule-based transport in astrocytes has been less studied. Nonetheless, exo- and endocytic trafficking of cell membrane proteins and intracellular organelle transport orchestrates astrocytes’ normal biology, and these processes are often affected in disease or in response to injury. Here we present a straightforward protocol to culture high quality murine astrocytes, to fluorescently label astrocytic proteins and organelles of interest, and to record their intracellular transport dynamics using time-lapse confocal microscopy. We also demonstrate how to extract and quantify relevant transport parameters from the acquired movies using available image analysis software (i.e., ImageJ/FIJI) plugins.

Introduction

Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the adult central nervous system, where they perform unique developmental and homeostatic functions¹. Astrocytes modulate synaptic development through direct contact with pre- and postsynaptic terminals as part of the tri-partite synapse, which contains neurotransmitter receptors, transporters, and cell adhesion molecules that facilitate synapse formation and neuron-astrocyte communication². In addition, astrocytes actively control synaptic transmission and prevent neuronal excitotoxicity by rapidly removing excitatory neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft, recycling neurotra....

Protocol

All animal procedures were performed with the approval of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

1. Brain dissection and culture of primary mouse astrocytes

NOTE: The following protocol was adapted from published methods, which follows the original procedure developed by McCarthy and deVellis^13,14,15. Mixed cell cultures of McCa.......

Discussion

Here, we describe an experimental approach to express, visualize, and track fluorescently tagged organelles and membrane proteins of interest using time-lapse video microscopy in high-purity primary mouse cortical MD astrocytes. We also outline a methodology for measuring particle dynamics. Direct visualization of protein and organelle dynamics in primary astrocytes provides a powerful tool to study the regulation of intracellular transport in these cells in vitro.

The methodology for establis.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
2.5% Trypsin (10x)	Gibco	15090-046
Benchtop Centrifuge	Thermo Scientific	75-203-637	Sorvall ST8 Centrifuge
Cell Culture Grade Water	Gen Clone	25-511
Cell Culture Microscope	Zeiss	WSN-AXIOVERT A1	Vert.A1 inverted scope, Inverted tissue culture microscope with fluorescent capabilities
Cytosine Arabinoside	Sigma	C1768-100MG	(AraC) Dissolve lyophilized powder in sterile cell culture grade water to make a 10mM stock, aliquot and freeze for long term storage
DAPI	Sigma	D9542-5MG	Dissolve lyophilized powder in deionized water to a maximum concentration of 20 mg/ml, heat or sonicate as necessary. Use at 300 nM for counterstaining.
Dissecting Microscope	Zeiss		Stemi 305
Dissecting Scissors	F.S.T	14558-09
Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium	Gen Clone	25-500
Fetal Bovine Serum	Gemini	100-106	Heat-Inactivated
FIJI (Fiji is Just Image J)	NIH	Version 1.52i
Fine Tip Tweezers	F.S.T	11254-20	Style #5
Fluorescence light source	Excelitas	012-63000	X-Cite 120Q
GFAP antibody	Cell Signaling	3670S	GFAP (GA5) mouse monoclonal antibody
Glass Bottom Dishes	Mattek corporation	P35G-1.5-14-C	35 mm Dish | No. 1.5 Coverslip | 14 mm Glass Diameter | Uncoated
Graefe Forceps	F.S.T	11054-10	Graefe Iris Forceps with curved tips
Green fluorescent dye that stains acidic compartments (late endosomes and lysosomes)	Life Technologies	L7526	LysoTracker Green DND 26. Pre-dissolved in DMSOS to a 1mM stock solution. Dilute to the final working concentration in the growth medium or buffer of choice.
Hank's Balanced Salt Solution (10x)	Gibco	14065-056	Magnesium and calcium free
Imaging Media	Life Technologies	A14291DJ	Live Cell Imaging Solution
Inverted Confocal Microscope	Zeiss		LSM 780
KymoToolBox			https://github.com/fabricecordelieres/IJ_KymoToolBox
Lipofection Enhancer Reagent	Life Technologies	11514015	Plus Reagent
Lipofection Reagent	Life Technologies	15338100	Lipofectamine LTX reagent
Orbital shaking incubator	New Brunswick Scientific	8261-30-1008	Innova 4230 , orbital shaking incubator with temperature and speed control
Penicillin/Strepomycin solution (100x)	Gen Clone	25-512
Phosphate Buffered Saline (10x)	Gen Clone	25-507x
Poly-D-Lysine Hydrobromide	Sigma	P7405	Dissolve in Tris buffer, pH 8.5, at 1mg/mL. Freeze for long term storage. Avoid cycles of freezing and thawing
Reduced serum medium	Gibco	31985-062	OPTI-MEM
Tissue Culture Flasks	Olympus Plastics	25-209	75 cm^2. 100% angled neck access, 0.22um hydrophobic vented filter cap
Tissue culture incubator	Thermo Scientific	51030285	HERAcell VIOS 160i, tissue culture incubator with temperature, humidity, and CO2 control
Tris-Base	Sigma	T1503	8.402 g dissolved to one liter in water with 4.829 g Tris HCl to make 0.1 M Tris buffer, pH 8.5
Tris-HCl	Sigma	T3253	4.829 g dissolved to one liter in water with 8.402 g Tris Base to make 0.1 M Tris buffer, pH 8.5
Trypsin-EDTA (0.25%), phenol red	Gibco	25200072
Vacuum-Driven Filter Systems	Olympus Plastics	25-227	500 ml, PES membrane, 0.22 µm
Vannas scissors straight	Roboz	RS-5620