inducing 3d neural retina formation from cultured h9-embryonic stem cells for stem-cell based therapies

增强人胚胎干细胞的 3D 神经视网膜分化

The eye serves as the primary source of information among human sensory organs, with the retina being the principal visual sensory tissue in mammalian eyes1. Retinopathy stands as one of the primary global causes of eye diseases, leading to blindness2. Approximately 2.85 million people worldwide suffer from varying degrees of vision impairment due to retinopathy3. Consequently, investigating its pathogenesis is crucial for early diagnosis and timely treatment. Most studies on human retinopathy have primarily focused on animal models4,5,6. However, the human retina is a complex, multi-layered tissue comprising various cell types. Traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture and animal model systems typically fail to faithfully recapitulate the normal spatiotemporal development and drug metabolism of the native human retina7,8.
Recently, 3D culture techniques have evolved to generate tissue-like organs from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs)9,10. Retinal organoids (ROs) generated from human PSCs in a 3D suspension culture system not only contain seven retinal cell types but also exhibit a distinct stratified structure similar to the human retina in vivo11,12,13. Human PSC-derived ROs have gained popularity and widespread availability and are currently the best in vitro models for studying the development and disease of the human retina14,15. Over the past few decades, numerous researchers have demonstrated that human PSCs, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), can differentiate into ROs using various induction protocols. These advancements hold enormous potential in retinopathy for disease modeling, drug screening, and stem cell-based therapies16,17,18.
However, the generation of neural retina (NR) from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) is a complex, cumbersome, and time-consuming process. Furthermore, batch-to-batch variations in tissue organoids may lead to lower reproducibility of results19,20. Numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors can influence the yield of retinal organoids (ROs), such as the number or species of starting cells and the use of transcription factors and small-molecule compounds21,22,23. Since the first human RO was generated by the Sasai laboratory11, multiple modifications have been proposed over the years to enhance the ease and effectiveness of the induction process13,21,24,25. Unfortunately, to date, no gold standard protocol has been established for generating ROs in all laboratories. Indeed, there is a certain degree of discrepancy in ROs resulting from different induction methods, as well as wide variation in the expression of retinal markers and the robustness of their structure22,26. These issues may severely complicate sample collection and the interpretation of study findings. Therefore, a more consolidated and robust differentiation protocol is needed to maximize efficiency with minimal heterogeneity of RO generation.
This study describes an optimized induction protocol based on a combination of Kuwahara et al.12 and D&#246;pper et al.27 with detailed instructions. The new method significantly reduces the probability of organoid vesiculation and fusion, increasing the success rate of generating NR. This development holds great promise for disease modeling, drug screening, and cell therapy applications for retinal disorders.

作者聚焦：用于疾病建模的简单高效的神经视网膜类器官生产

从人类多能干细胞生成神经视网膜

Our group focuses on understanding the pathogenesis and the treatment of human retinal diseases. Our protocol describes a optimized induction technique to generate a neural retina that significantly reduce the probability of vasculation and fusion to increase the success rate of retinal production until day 60. The modified method is simpler and more efficient in generating neural retina, which can prove to be a better disease model for drug screening and cell therapy.In the future, we aim to study the effects of physicochemical factors on retinal development and underlying mechanism using our retinal organoid model.

从培养的 H9 胚胎干细胞中诱导 3D 神经视网膜形成，用于基于干细胞的治疗

首先，在含有Y-27632的维持培养基中解冻并培养H9胚胎干细胞。在第零天，一旦菌落汇合度达到 70%，用 2 毫升 DPBS 洗涤它们，然后用每升含有 20 微摩尔 Y-27632 的 0.5 毫升细胞解离溶液孵育细胞。要中止消化，加入 3 毫升每升含有 20 微摩尔 Y-27632 的维持培养基。为了沉淀细胞，将试管以190G离心五分钟，然后弃去上清液。将沉淀重悬于一毫升含Y-27632的不含生长因子的化学成分培养基中。细胞计数后，将 120 万个细胞加入 10 毫升不含生长因子的化学成分成分培养基中并充分混合。然后将 100 μL 细胞悬液分配到 96 孔锥形底板的每个孔中。在加湿的 5% 二氧化碳气氛中孵育。为了在第6天诱导视网膜形成，将含有BMP4的培养基加入到96孔V底板的每个孔中，并再次孵育。在第 9 天、第 12 天和第 15 天，用不含 BMP4 的新鲜培养基替换一半的用过培养基。在第 18 天，小心地将形成的胚状体转移到 15 毫升离心管中。胚状体自然沉淀后，轻轻除去上清液并用神经视网膜分化培养基冲洗。然后将胚状体置于低吸收六孔板中，并再次孵育板。在第 21 天，明场图像显示了使用这种方法生成的神经视网膜中的连续神经上皮结构。视网膜诱导成功率明显更高，与其他方法相比，使用该方案生成的视网膜类器官在大小和形态上相似。

Research

JoVE Journal

Developmental Biology

Inducing 3D Neural Retina Formation from Cultured H9-Embryonic Stem Cells for Stem-Cell Based Therapies

Generating Neural Retina from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Retinopathy is one of the main causes of blindness worldwide. Investigating its pathogenesis is essential for the early diagnosis and timely treatment of ...

科研

发育生物学

Culturing H9-Embryonic Stem Cells for Generation of Human Neural Retina

培养H9胚胎干细胞以生成人类神经视网膜 