A subscription to JoVE is required to view this content. Sign in or start your free trial.
This work presents a protocol to yield homogeneous cell cultures of primary oculomotor, trochlear, and spinal motor neurons. These cultures can be used for comparative analyses of the morphological, cellular, molecular, and electrophysiological characteristics of ocular and spinal motor neurons.
Oculomotor neurons (CN3s) and trochlear neurons (CN4s) exhibit remarkable resistance to degenerative motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) when compared to spinal motor neurons (SMNs). The ability to isolate and culture primary mouse CN3s, CN4s, and SMNs would provide an approach to study mechanisms underlying this selective vulnerability. To date, most protocols use heterogeneous cell cultures, which can confound the interpretation of experimental outcomes. To minimize the problems associated with mixed-cell populations, pure cultures are indispensable. Here, the first protocol describes in detail how to efficiently purify and cultivate CN3s/CN4s alongside SMNs counterparts from the same embryos using embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5) IslMN:GFP transgenic mouse embryos. The protocol provides details on the tissue dissection and dissociation, FACS-based cell isolation, and in vitro cultivation of cells from CN3/CN4 and SMN nuclei. This protocol adds a novel in vitro CN3/CN4 culture system to existing protocols and simultaneously provides a pure species- and age-matched SMN culture for comparison. Analyses focusing on the morphological, cellular, molecular, and electrophysiological characteristics of motor neurons are feasible in this culture system. This protocol will enable research into the mechanisms that define motor neuron development, selective vulnerability, and disease.
The culture of primary motor neurons is a powerful tool which enables the study of neuronal development, function, and susceptibility to exogenous stressors. Motor neuron cultures are particularly useful for the study of neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)1,2, whose disease mechanisms are incompletely understood. Interestingly, despite the significant cell death of spinal motor neurons (SMNs) in both ALS patients and ALS model mice, cell death in oculomotor neurons (CN3s) and trochlear neurons (CN4s) are relatively scarce1,....
All experiments utilizing laboratory animals were performed in accordance with NIH guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals and with the approval of the Animal Care and Use Committee of Boston Children's Hospital.
1. Setting Up Timed Matings Prior to the Dissection
The aim of this protocol was to highly purify and culture both primary CN3s/CN4s and SMNs long-term to enable comparative analyses of the mechanisms underlying motor neuron disorders (see Figure 1 and Figure 2 for overview).
Once neurons were successfully isolated and grown in culture, nearly pure primary CN3/CN4 and SMN cultures were obtained (Figu.......
Historically, in vitro studies of CN3 and/or CN4 motor neurons have relied on heterogeneous cultures such as dissociated17,18,19,20,21, explant17,22,23,24,25,26, a.......
We thank Brigitte Pettmann (Biogen, Cambridge, MA, USA) for instruction in SMN dissection techniques; the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Flow Cytometry Facility, the Immunology Division Flow Cytometry Facility of Harvard Medical School, The Joslin Diabetes Center Flow Cytometry Core, Brigham and Women's Hospital Flow Cytometry Core, and Boston Children's Hospital Flow Cytometry Research Facility for FACS isolation of primary motor neurons; A.A. Nugent, A.P. Tenney, A.S. Lee, E.H. Nguyen, M.F. Rose, additional Engle laboratory members, and Project ALS consortium members for technical assistance and thoughtful discussion. This study was supported by Project ALS. I....
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG (H+L) | Thermo Fisher Scientific | A-11001 | 1:400 |
Alexa Fluor 594-conjugated F(ab')2 goat anti-rabbit IgG (H+L) | Thermo Fisher Scientific | A-11072 | 1:400 |
B27 Supplement (50X), serum free | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 17504-044 | |
BD FACSAria llu SORP Flow Cytometer | BD Bioscience | - | This has 4 laser system equipped with 405, 488, 594, and 640 nm lasers. |
BD Falcon 70μm Nylon Cell Strainers | CORNING | 352350 | For filtering the dissociating cells before FACS. |
BD Falcon Round Bottom Test Tubes With Snap Cap | CORNING | 352054 | |
BDNF Human | ProSpec-Tany TechnoGene, Ltd. | CYT-207 | |
Cell Culture microplate, 96 well, PS, F-bottom (Chimney Well) | Greiner Bio-One International | 655090 | We tried multiple 96-well dishes and this was the best one for culture and analyses after ICC |
Circular Cover Glasses for microscopy | Karl Hecht & Assistent | 1001/14 | We used this coverslip since the area was large (diamater: 14 mm). |
CNTF Human | ProSpec-Tany TechnoGene, Ltd. | CYT-272 | |
Cyclopiazonic acid from Penicillium cyclopium | Sigma-Aldrich | C1530 | CPA. One of ER stressors. |
4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylinodole (DAPI) | Thermo Fisher Scientific | D1306 | |
Dimethyl sulfoxide | Sigma-Aldrich | D2650 | DMSO |
Dumont #5 Forceps Inox Tip Size .05 x .01 mm Biologie Tips | Roboz Surgical Instrument | RS-5015 | |
Forskolin | Thermo Fisher Scientific | BP25205 | |
GDNF Human | ProSpec-Tany TechnoGene, Ltd. | CYT-305 | |
GlutaMAX supplement | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 35050-061 | |
Hanks’ Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 14175-095 | |
Hibernate E | BrainBits | HE | |
Hibernate E low fluorescence | BrainBits | HELF | Fluorescence which hinders observation of embryo's GFP expressions should be low. |
Horse serum, heat inactivated, New Zealand origin | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 26050-070 | |
IBMX | Tocris Cookson | 2845 | Isobutylmethylxanthine |
Laminin | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 23017-015 | |
Leibovitz’s L15 medium | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 11415064 | |
2-Mercaptoethanol | Sigma-Aldrich | M6250 | |
Micro Dissecting Scissors | Roboz Surgical Instrument | RS-5913 | |
Micro Knife 4.75" 1.7 x 27 mm blade | Roboz Surgical Instrument | RS-6272 | |
Moria Mini Perforated Spoon | Fine Science Tools | 10370-19 | |
mouse monoclonal antibody to neuronal class III β-tubulin (TUBB3) | BioLegend | 801202 | 1:500, TUJ1 |
Nikon Perfect Focus Eclipse Ti live cell fluorescence microscope and Elements software | Nikon | - | Differential interference contrast images and immunocytochemistry images of the cell cultures were captured with these equipments |
Nitric Acid 90%, Fuming (Certified ACS) | Fisher Scientific | A202-212 | For rinsing coverslips |
Olympus 1.7ml Microtubes, Clear | Genesee Scientific | 22-281 | These are the tubes that we described "1.7 mL microcentrifuge tubes" in the context. |
Papain Dissociation System | Worthington Biochemical Corp | LK003150 | Papain solution and alubumin-ovomucoid inhibitor solution are prepared from this kit. |
Penicillin-streptomycin (10,000 U/ml) | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 15140-122 | |
Phosphate buffered saline (PBS) | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 10010-023 | |
Poly D-lysin (PDL) | MilliporeSigma | A-003-E | |
rabbit monoclonal antibody to Islet1 | Abcam | ab109517 | 1:200 |
SMZ18 and SMZ1500 zoom stereomicroscopes with DS-Ri1 camera | Nikon | - | Dissection was performed and images of dissected embryos and tissues are captured under these fluorescence microscopes. |
Sylgard 170 Black Silicone Encapsulant - A+B 0.9 Kg kit | Dow Corning | 1696157 | We make dissection dishes using this kit. |
TC treated Dishes, 100 x 20 mm | Genesee Scientific | 25-202 | We make dissection dishes using this dish. |
Thum Dressing Forceps 4.5" Serrated 2.2 mm Tip Width | Roboz Surgical Instrument | RS-8100 | |
Transducer for LOGOQ e VET | GE Healthcare | L8-18i-RS | For ultrasound on female mice |
Veterinary ultrasound machine | GE Healthcare | LOGOQ e VET | For ultrasound on female mice |
Zeiss LSM 700 series laser scanning confocal microscope and Zen Software | Carl Zeiss | - | Confocal image of the embryo was captured with these equipments |
This article has been published
Video Coming Soon
ABOUT JoVE
Copyright © 2024 MyJoVE Corporation. All rights reserved