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Method Article
Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have emerged as a promising in vitro model for drug-induced cardiotoxicity screening and disease modeling. Here, we detail a protocol for measuring the contractility and electrophysiology of hiPSC-CMs.
Drug-induced cardiotoxicity is the leading cause of drug attrition and withdrawal from the market. Therefore, using appropriate preclinical cardiac safety assessment models is a critical step during drug development. Currently, cardiac safety assessment is still highly dependent on animal studies. However, animal models are plagued by poor translational specificity to humans due to species-specific differences, particularly in terms of cardiac electrophysiological characteristics. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a reliable, efficient, and human-based model for preclinical cardiac safety assessment. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have emerged as an invaluable in vitro model for drug-induced cardiotoxicity screening and disease modeling. hiPSC-CMs can be obtained from individuals with diverse genetic backgrounds and various diseased conditions, making them an ideal surrogate to assess drug-induced cardiotoxicity individually. Therefore, methodologies to comprehensively investigate the functional characteristics of hiPSC-CMs need to be established. In this protocol, we detail various functional assays that can be assessed on hiPSC-CMs, including the measurement of contractility, field potential, action potential, and calcium handling. Overall, the incorporation of hiPSC-CMs into preclinical cardiac safety assessment has the potential to revolutionize drug development.
Drug development is a long and expensive process. A study of new therapeutic drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2009 and 2018 reported that the estimated median cost of capitalized research and clinical trials was $985 million per product1. Drug-induced cardiotoxicity is the leading cause of drug attrition and withdrawal from the market2. Notably, cardiotoxicity is reported among multiple classes of therapeutic drugs3. Therefore, cardiac safety assessment is a crucial component during the drug development process. The current paradigm for cardiac safety assessment is still highly dependent on animal models. However, species differences from the use of animal models are increasingly recognized as a primary cause of inaccurate predictions for drug-induced cardiotoxicity in human patients4. For example, the morphology of cardiac action potential differs substantially between humans and mice due to the contributions from different repolarizing currents5. In addition, differential isoforms of cardiac myosin and circular RNAs that can impact cardiac physiology have been well documented among species6,7. To bridge these gaps, it is imperative to establish a reliable, efficient, and human-based model for preclinical cardiac safety assessment.
The groundbreaking invention of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology has generated unprecedented drug screening and disease modeling platforms. Over the past decade, methods to generate human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have become well established8,9. hiPSC-CMs have attracted great interest in their potential applications in disease modeling, drug-induced cardiotoxicity screening, and precision medicine. For instance, hiPSC-CMs have been utilized to model the pathologic phenotypes of cardiac diseases caused by genetic inheritance, such as long QT syndrome10, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy11,12, and dilated cardiomyopathy13,14,15. Consequently, key signaling pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiac diseases have been identified, which can shed light on potential therapeutic strategies for effective treatment. Moreover, hiPSC-CMs have been used to screen drug-induced cardiotoxicity associated with anticancer agents, including doxorubicin, trastuzumab, and tyrosine kinase inhibitors16,17,18; strategies to mitigate the resultant cardiotoxicity are under investigation. Finally, the genetic information retained in hiPSC-CMs allows for the screening and prediction of drug-induced cardiotoxicity at both individual and population levels19,20. Collectively, hiPSC-CMs have proven to be an invaluable tool for personalized cardiac safety prediction.
The overall goal of this protocol is to establish methodologies to comprehensively and efficiently investigate the functional characteristics of hiPSC-CMs, which are of great importance in applying hiPSC-CMs toward disease modeling, drug-induced cardiotoxicity screening, and precision medicine. Here, we detail an array of functional assays to assess the functional properties of hiPSC-CMs, including the measurement of contractility, field potential, action potential, and calcium (Ca2+) handling (Figure 1).
1. Preparation of media and solutions
2. Measurement of hiPSC-CM contraction motion
3. Measurement of hiPSC-CM field potential
4. Measurement of hiPSC-CM action potential
5. Measurement of hiPSC-CM Ca2+ transient
This protocol describes how to measure the contraction motion, field potential, action potential, and Ca2+ transient of hiPSC-CMs. A schematic diagram including the enzymatic digestion, cell seeding, maintenance, and functional assay conduction is shown in Figure 1. The formation of the hiPSC-CM monolayer is necessary for the contraction motion measurement (Figure 2B). A representative trace of the contraction-relaxation motion of hiPSC-CMs is shown i...
Human iPSC technology has emerged as a powerful platform for disease modeling and drug screening. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for measuring hiPSC-CM contractility, field potential, action potential, and Ca2+ transient. This protocol provides a comprehensive characterization of hiPSC-CM contractility and electrophysiology. These functional assays have been applied in multiple publications from our group12,13,18
J.C.W. is a co-founder of Greenstone Biosciences but has no competing interests, as the work presented here is completely independent. The other authors declare no competing interests.
We thank Blake Wu for proofreading the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 HL113006, R01 HL141371, R01 HL163680, R01 HL141851, U01FD005978, and NASA NNX16A069A (JCW), and AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship 872244 (GMP).
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
35 mm glass bottom dish with 20 mm micro-well #1.5 cover glass | Cellvis | D35-20-1.5-N | Patch clamp |
50x B27 supplements | Life Technologies | 17504-044 | hiPSC-CM culture medium |
6-well culture plate | E & K Scientific | EK-27160 | hiPSC-CM culture |
96-well flat clear bottom black polystyrene TC-treated microplates | Corning | 3603 | Contraction motion measurement |
Accutase | Sigma-Aldrich | A6964 | Enzymatic dissociation |
Axion's Integrated Studio (AxIS) | Axion Biosystems | navigator software | |
Borosilicate glass capillaries | Harvard Apparatus | BF 100-50-10, | Patch clamp |
CaCl2 1 M in H2O | Sigma-Aldrich | 21115 | Tyrode’s solution |
Cell counting chamber slides | ThermoFisher Scientific | C10228 | Cell counting |
CytoView 48-well MEA plates | Axion Biosystems | M768-tMEA-48B | MEA |
DMEM/F12 | Gibco/Life Technologies | 12634028 | Extracellular matrix medium |
DPBS, no calcium, no magnesium | Fisher Scientific | 14-190-250 | |
EGTA | Sigma-Aldrich | E3889 | Intracellular pipette solution |
EPC 10 USB patch clamp amplifier | Warner Instruments | 89-5000 | Patch clamp |
Fura-2, AM, cell permeant | ThermoFisher Scientific | F1221 | Ca2+ transient measurement |
Glucose | Sigma-Aldrich | G8270 | Tyrode’s solution |
HEPES | Sigma-Aldrich | H3375 | Tyrode’s solution |
hiPSCs | Stanford Cardiovascular Institute iPSC Biobank | ||
KCl | Sigma-Aldrich | 529552 | Tyrode’s solution |
KnockOut Serum Replacement | ThermoFisher Scientific | 10828-028 | hiPSC-CM seeding medium |
KOH 8 M | Sigma-Aldrich | P4494 | Intracellular pipette solution |
Lambda DG 4 | Sutter Instrument Company | Ca2+ transient measurement; ultra-high-speed wavelength switching light source | |
Luna-FL automated fluorescence cell counter | WISBIOMED | LB-L20001 | Cell counting |
Maestro Pro MEA system | Axion Biosystems | MEA | |
Matrigel Growth Factor Reduced (GFR) Basement Membrane Matrix | Corning | 356231 | Extracellular matrix medium |
MgATP | Sigma-Aldrich | A9187 | Intracellular pipette solution |
MgCl2 | Sigma-Aldrich | M8266 | Tyrode’s solution |
NaCl | Sigma-Aldrich | S9888 | Tyrode’s solution |
NaOH 10 M | Sigma-Aldrich | 72068 | Tyrode’s solution |
NIS Elements AR | |||
Pluronic F-127 (20% Solution in DMSO) | ThermoFisher Scientific | P3000MP | Ca2+ transient measurement |
RPMI 1640 medium | Life Technologies | 11875-119 | hiPSC-CM culture medium |
Sony SI8000 Cell Motion Imaging System | Sony Biotechnology | Contraction motion measurement | |
Sutter Micropipette puller | Sutter Instruments | P-97 | Patch clamp |
Trypan blue stain | Life Technologies | T10282 | Cell counting |
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