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In Vitro Method to Study Sex-Based Differences in Conjunctival Goblet Cells
In This Article
Summary
Phenol red-free/fetal bovine serum-free medium is a better option than advanced RPMI to eliminate exogenous hormones without altering the normal function of conjunctival goblet cells in the study of sex-based differences.
Abstract
Dry eye is a multi-factorial disease affecting ocular surface health, with a profoundly higher prevalence in women. Disruption of the gel-forming mucin that is secreted by conjunctival goblet cells (CGCs) onto the ocular surface contributes to multiple ocular surface diseases. The elimination of exogenous sex hormones is essential to obtain consistent results during in vitro study of sex-based differences in CGCs. This paper describes a method to minimize the presence of exogenous hormones in the study of sex-based differences in CGCs while maintaining their physiological function. CGCs from postmortem human donors of both sexes were cultured from pieces of the conjunctiva in RPMI medium with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (referred to as the complete medium) until confluency. Nearly 48 h before the start of the experiments, CGCs were transferred to RPMI medium without phenol red or FBS but with 1% BSA (referred to as phenol-red-free medium). The normal cellular function was studied by measuring the increase in intracellular [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) after carbachol (Cch, 1 x 10-4 M) stimulation using fura 2/acetoxymethyl (AM) microscopy. The result shows that CGCs maintained normal function in the phenol-red-free media after 48 h. No significant difference in [Ca2+]i response was observed between phenol red-free RPMI medium and complete medium upon Cch stimulation. Therefore, we recommend using the phenol-red free RPMI medium with 1% BSA to eliminate exogenous hormones without altering the normal function of CGCs in the study of sex-based differences.
Introduction
Sex-based differences affect multiple processes of the ocular surface1,2,3. The clinical manifestation of these sex-based differences is the difference in the prevalence of many ocular surface diseases between men and women, such as dry eye and conjunctivitis4,5,6. Evidence suggests that sex-based differences arise from multiple biological levels, including the different profiles of genes on X and Y chromosomes7 and the effects of hormones8
Protocol
All human tissue was donated to the eye bank with prior informed consent and authorization of the donor for use in scientific research. Use of the human conjunctival tissue was reviewed by the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Human Studies Committee and determined to be exempt and not meeting the definition of research with human subjects.
1. Primary human goblet cell culture
- From the eye bank, obtain human conjunctival tissue16.
- Prepare .......
Representative Results
Human CGCs in primary culture grow to 80% confluency in approximately 14 days. The cell type was confirmed by immunofluorescence staining with antibodies to the goblet cell markers CK7 and HPA-125 (Figure 1). Even though the removal of FBS from the medium can eliminate the sex hormones, the lack of FBS could potentially affect the cellular response. To verify the hormone elimination method, a cholinergic agonist (carbachol, Cch 1 × 10-4 M) was used as .......
Discussion
Investigating the sex-based differences in ocular tissues helps understand the processes of diseases, especially dry eye and allergic conjunctivitis, which disproportionately affect one sex4,5,6. Even though animal models can be used for these studies, data obtained directly from human tissue are essential due to the highest similarity to the human cells in vivo. The conjunctival tissues used in the current experimental.......
Acknowledgements
The work is funded by the National Eye Institute Grant EY019470 (D.A.D).
....Materials
| Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
| 0.05% trypsin with 1x EDTA | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 25300-054 | |
| 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1- piperazineethanesulfonic acid | Fisher Bioreagent (Pittsburgh, PA) | BP310-500 | |
| Advanced RPMI media | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 12633020 | |
| carbachol | Cayman Chemical (Ann Arbor, MI) | 144.86 | |
| Fetal Bovin Serum | R&D (Minneapolis, MN) | S11150H | |
| Fura-2- acetoxymethyl ester | Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA) | F1221 | |
| Human conjunctival tissue | Eversight Eye Bank (Ann Arbor, MI) | N/A | |
| inorganic salt for KRB buffer | Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO) | Any brand will work | |
| L-glutamine | Lonza Group (Basel, Switzerland) | 17-605F | |
| non-essential amino acids | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 11140-050 | |
| penicillin/streptomycin | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 15140-122 | |
| phenol red-free RPMI media | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 11835055 | |
| Pluronic acid F127 | MilliporeSigma (Burlington, MA, USA) | P2443-250G | |
| RPMI-1640 culture medium | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 21875034 | |
| scalpel | Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA) | 12460451 | Any sterile surgical scalpel can work |
| sodium pyruvate | Gibco (Grand Island, NY) | 11360-070 | |
| sulfinpyrazone | MilliporeSigma (Burlington, MA, USA) | S9509-5G |
References
- Gao, Y., et al. Female-specific downregulation of tissue polymorphonuclear neutrophils drives impaired regulatory T cell and amplified effector T cell responses in autoimmune dry eye disease. Journal of Immunology. 195, 3086-3099 (2015).
- Wang, S. B., et al.
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