Primary Cultures of Rat Astrocytes and Microglia and Their Use in the Study of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Summary

We present here a protocol on how to prepare primary cultures of glial cells, astrocytes, and microglia from rat cortices for time-lapse video imaging of intracellular Ca²⁺ for research on pathophysiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the hSOD1^G93A rat model.

Abstract

This protocol demonstrates how to prepare primary cultures of glial cells, astrocytes, and microglia from the cortices of Sprague Dawley rats and how to use these cells for the purpose of studying the pathophysiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the rat hSOD1^G93A model. First, the protocol shows how to isolate and culture astrocytes and microglia from postnatal rat cortices, and then how to characterize and test these cultures for purity by immunocytochemistry using the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) marker of astrocytes and the ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) microglial marker. In the next stage, methods are described for dye-loading (calcium-sensitive Fluo 4-AM) of cultured cells and the recordings of Ca²⁺ changes in video imaging experiments on live cells.

The examples of video recordings consist of: (1) cases of Ca²⁺ imaging of cultured astrocytes acutely exposed to immunoglobulin G (IgG) isolated from ALS patients, showing a characteristic and specific response compared to the response to ATP as demonstrated in the same experiment. Examples also show a more pronounced transient rise in intracellular calcium concentration evoked by ALS IgG in hSOD1^G93A astrocytes compared to non-transgenic controls; (2) Ca²⁺ imaging of cultured astrocytes during a depletion of calcium stores by thapsigargin (Thg), a non-competitive inhibitor of the endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ ATPase, followed by store-operated calcium entry elicited by the addition of calcium in the recording solution, which demonstrates the difference between Ca²⁺ store operation in hSOD1^G93A and in non-transgenic astrocytes; (3) Ca²⁺ imaging of the cultured microglia showing predominantly a lack of response to ALS IgG, whereas ATP application elicited a Ca²⁺ change. This paper also emphasizes possible caveats and cautions regarding critical cell density and purity of cultures, choosing the correct concentration of the Ca²⁺ dye and dye-loading techniques.

Introduction

Cell culture techniques have given rise to numerous advancements in diverse fields of cellular neurophysiology in health and disease. Particularly, primary cell cultures, freshly isolated from the neuronal tissue of a lab animal, allow the experimenter to closely study the behavior of diverse cells in different biochemical media and physiological setups. Using different fluorescent physiological indicators such as the Ca²⁺-sensitive dyes in combination with time-lapse video microscopy provides better insight into the cellular biophysical and biochemical processes in real time.

ALS is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that a....

Protocol

All experiments were performed in accordance with the EU directives on the protection of animals for scientific purposes and with permission from the Ethical Commission of the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade (approval number EK-BF-2016/08). Regarding patient material (sera for IgGs), it was collected for routine clinical examination with informed patient's consent in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The protocol .......

Discussion

This paper presents the method of primary cell culturing as a fast and "on the budget" tool for studying different aspects of cell (patho)physiology such as ALS in the rat hSOD1^G93A model. The technique is thus suitable for studies at the single-cell level that can be extrapolated and further investigated at a higher level of organization (i.e., in tissue slices or in a live animal). Cell culturing as a technique, however, has a few caveats. It is most critical to do the brain tissue isolation and the .......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
15 mL tube	Sarstedt, Germany	62 554 502
2 mL tube	Sarstedt, Germany	72.691
21 G needle	Nipro, Japan	HN-2138-ET
23 G needle	Nipro, Japan	HN-2338-ET
5 mL syringe	Nipro, Japan	SY3-5SC-EC
6 mm circular glass coverslip	Menzel Glasser, Germany	630-2113
60 mm Petri dish	ThermoFisher Sientific, USA	130181
ATP	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	A9062
AxioObserver A1	Carl Zeiss, Germany
Bovine serum albumine	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	B6917
Calcium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	2110
Centrifuge	Eppendorf, Germany
DAPI	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	10236276001
D-glucose	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	158968
DMEM	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	D5648
Donkey-anti goat AlexaFluor 647 IgG antibody	Invitrogen, USA	A-21447
Donkey-anti mouse AlexaFluor 488 IgG antibody	Invitrogen, USA	A-21202
EDTA	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	EDS-100G
EGTA	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	E4378
”evolve”-EM 512 Digital Camera System	Photometrics, USA
Fetal bovine serum (FBS)	Gibco, ThermoFisher Scientific, USA	10500064
Fiji ImageJ Software	Open source under the GNU General Public Licence
FITC filter set	Chroma Technology Inc., USA
Fluo-4 AM	Molecular Probes, USA	F14201
Goat anti-Iba1	Fujifilm Wako Chemicals, USA	011-27991
HEPES	Biowest, France	P5455
HighSpeed Solution Exchange System	ALA Scientific Instruments, USA
Incubator	Memmert GmbH + Co. KG, Germany
Magnesium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	M2393
Matlab software	Math Works, USA
Mouse anti-GFAP	Merck Millipore, USA	MAB360
Mowiol 40-88	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	324590
Normal donkey serum	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	D9663
Paraformaldehyde	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	158127
Penicilin and Streptomycin	ThermoFisher Sientific, USA	15140122
Poly-L-lysine	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	P5899
Potassium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	P5405
Potassium dihydrogen phosphate	Carlo Erba Reagents, Spain	471686
Shaker DELFIA PlateShake	PerkinElmer Life Sciencies, USA
Sodium bicarbonate	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	S3817
Sodium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	S5886
Sodium phosphate dibasic heptahydrate	Carl ROTH GmbH	X987.2
Sodium pyruvate	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	P5280
Thapsigargine	Tocris Bioscience, UK	1138
Triton X - 100	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	T8787
Trypsin	Sigma-Aldrich, Germany	T4799
Vapro Vapor Pressure Osmometer 5520	Wescor, ELITechGroup Inc., USA
ViiFluor Imaging System	Visitron System Gmbh, Germany
VisiChrome Polychromator System	Visitron System Gmbh, Germany
VisiView high performance setup	Visitron System Gmbh, Germany
Xenon Short Arc lamp	Ushio, Japan