Name: reliable identification of living dopaminergic neurons in midbrain cultures using rna sequencing and th-promoter-driven egfp expression
Uploaded: 2017-02-10T12:30:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Reliable Identification of Living Dopaminergic Neurons in Midbrain Cultures Using RNA Sequencing and TH-promoter-driven eGFP Expression at JoVE.com

This work was supported by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (DA017279, AG033954, DA037743), the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and the Caltech Innovation Initiative funding the Millard and Muriel Jacobs Genetics and Genomics Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. We thank Brian Williams for optimising the RNA-Seq library protocol and for providing assistance. We thank Henry Amrhein for computational training. We thank Barbara J. Wold for the use of her equipment and laboratory space. We thank Igor Antoshechkin for library sequencing, and for facility management.

NOTE: All experiments were conducted in accordance with the guidelines for care and use of animals provided by the National Institutes of Health, and protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the California Institute of Technology.
1. Derivation of Primary Dopaminergic Cell Cultures from Embryonic Mouse Brain
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	<li>Solutions and Culture Medium
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		<li>Preparation of Ascorbic Acid Stock Solution
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			<li>Weigh out 352&#160;mg of ascorbic acid. ...

<ol>
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Here we isolate single cells from a heterogeneous population using a fluorescent tag, then study each cell with single-cell RNA-seq. We report that 100% of the live TH-eGFP cells that we harvested and sequenced were indeed dopaminergic neurons, based on the presence of the following three DA-related gene transcripts, TH, DDC and&#160;slc6a3. All of the TH-eGFP positive cells expressed these three genes as assessed by RNA-Seq. This was concordant with electrophysiological studies that showed that each TH-eGFP cell also di...

Parkinson&#39;s Disease (PD) is an incurable, age-related neurodegenerative disorder. The cause of this relatively common disorder remains poorly understood. There is widespread neuronal loss throughout the brain, with pronounced neuronal degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia Nigra (SNc), leading to diagnostic clinical features of bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor.
Primary mixed cultures containing SNc dopaminergic neurons are especially relevant for Parkinson&#39;s disease. Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) dopaminergic neurons have been implicated in reward and addiction. Ventral Mesencephalic (VM) primary mixed embryonic cultures contain both SNc and VTA dopaminergic (DA) neurons and GABAergic neurons. VM primary cultures can be useful for neuroprotection assays and to elucidate the selective vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons. There is no reliable way to identify dopaminergic cells in culture based on morphology. Here we develop techniques to identify and harvest single dopaminergic neurons, and construct single-cell, high-yield RNA sequencing libraries.
We report representative RNA transcriptome data for single dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons isolated from midbrain cultures. This protocol can be used for neuroprotection, neurodegeneration, and pharmacological assays to study the effects of various treatments on the DA/GABA transcriptome. Because dopaminergic neurons represent a small minority of the neurons expressed in primary VM cultures, the ability to reliably identify these neurons in living cultures will enable an enhanced range of single-cell studies. These novel techniques will facilitate advances in understanding the mechanisms taking place at the cellular level and may have applications elsewhere in the fields of neuroscience and molecular biology.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="921">
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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">Papain</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA)</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sigma&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">A7030-50G</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Medium: Neurobasal medium</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Gibco&#160;</td>
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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">Culture media that contains a stabilized form of L-glutamine, L-alanyl-L-glutamine: GlutaMAX</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Gibco&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">35050-061</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">0.5 mM final concentration.</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">L-Ascorbic acid</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sigma&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">A7506</td>
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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">B27</td>
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			<td style="width:241px;">Sigma&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">P4957</td>
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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">Laminin</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sigma&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">L2020</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">Stored at -20&#176;C in 20 &#181;L aliquots</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Deoxyribonuclease I (DNase)</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sigma&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">DN25</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Blue pipette tips</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sorenson Bioscience,</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">&#160;Inc. 10130</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">P1000</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">10 mm shallow Petri dish</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">VWR&#160;</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">37&#176;C Water bath</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">37&#176;C, 5% humidity incubator</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">16% paraformaldehyde (PFA)</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Electron Microscopy Sciences&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">15710</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
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		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Triton X-100</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sigma</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">&#160;X100-500ML</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">Donkey serum</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Equitech&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">SD-0100HI</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">100% stock solution, 1% final concentration.</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">Standard Pattern surgical scissors</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Fine Science Tools</td>
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			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">10X PBS, pH 7.4</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Gibco&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">70011-044</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
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		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Dulbecco&#39;s Phosphate Buffered solution (DPBS) 1X</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">14190-144</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">500 ml&#160;</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">21 guage needle&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">BD PrecisionGlide Needle</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">305167</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">100 needles</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Micropipette puller</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sutter Instrument.</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">model P-87</td>
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			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Micromanipulator&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Sutter Instrument</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">&#160;MP-285</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
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		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">Sequencing Kit: SMARTer Ultra Low RNA Kit for Illumina Sequencing</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Clontech</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">634936</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">100rnxs,incl Advantage2PCR Kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:395px;">oligonucleotide (12 &#181;M): SMARTer IIA oligonucleotide (12 &#181;M)</td>
			<td style="width:241px;"></td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the SMARTer Kit&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">Reverse transcriptase (100 units)</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">SMARTcribe reverse transcriptase</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the SMARTer Kit&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">Primer 1</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">3&#8217; CDSIIa primer&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the SMARTer Kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">Primer 2</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">IS PCR primer</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the SMARTer Kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">50X 2 polymerase mix</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">50X Advantage 2 polymerase mix</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the SMARTer Kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">10X PCR buffer</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">10X Advantage 2 PCR buffer</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the SMARTer Kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">RNA Spikes</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">ThermoFisher</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">4456740</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">PCR cooler rack</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">IsoFreeze PCR cooler rack.</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">DNA Sample Preparation Kit&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">(Illumina/Nextera) Nexter</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">FC-121-1030</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">24 Samples</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">PCR master mix</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Nextera PCR master mix (NPM)</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the Nextera Kit&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">PCR primer cocktail (PPC)&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Nextera PCR primer cocktail (PPC)&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;">From the Nextera Kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Fluorometer</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">The Qubit ThermoFisher</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">Q33216</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">HS DNA BioAnalyzer kit</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Agilent</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">5067-4626</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">110rxns</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:395px;">Electrophoresis system&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer.</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">G2938C</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Magnetic beads: Agencourt AMPure&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Beckman Coulter</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">A63880</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">5ml</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">RNAse wipe: RNAse Zap wipes</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Ambion</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">AM9786</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">Size 100 Sheets</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Qubit ds HS Assay Kit</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Molecular probes&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">Q32854</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">500 assays</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Gel extraction kit: Qiaquick Gel Extraction Kit</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Qiagen&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;">28704</td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Glass capillary tubing</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">(Kimax-51, 1.5&#8211;1.8 mm o.d.)</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Microforge</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Narishige (or equivalent)&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:395px;">Sequencer</td>
			<td style="width:241px;">Illumina HiSeq instrument</td>
			<td style="width:108px;"></td>
			<td style="width:177px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="80">
			<td height="80" style="height:80px;width:395px;">GENSAT tyrosine hydroxylase-eGFP mouse strain&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:241px;"></td>
			<td style="width:108px;">MMRRC stock number: 000292-UNC</td>
			<td style="width:177px;">Stock Tg(Th-EGFP)DJ76Gsat/Mutant Mouse Regional Research Center</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

reliable identification of living dopaminergic neurons in midbrain cultures using rna sequencing and th-promoter-driven egfp expression

In Parkinson&#39;s Disease (PD) there is widespread neuronal loss throughout the brain with pronounced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the SNc, leading to bradykinesia, rigidity, and tremor. The identification of living dopaminergic neurons in primary Ventral Mesencephalic (VM) cultures using a fluorescent marker provides an alternative way to study the selective vulnerability of these neurons without relying on the immunostaining of fixed cells. Here, we isolate, dissociate, and culture mouse VM neurons for 3 weeks. We then identify dopaminergic neurons in the cultures using eGFP fluorescence (driven by a Tyrosine Hydroxylase (TH) promoter). Individual neurons are harvested into microcentrifuge tubes using glass micropipettes. Next, we lyse the harvested cells, and conduct cDNA synthesis and transposon-mediated &#34;tagmentation&#34; to produce single cell RNA-Seq libraries1,2,3,4,5. After passing a quality-control check, single-cell libraries are sequenced and subsequent analysis is carried out to measure gene expression. We report transcriptome results for individual dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons isolated from midbrain cultures. We report that 100% of the live TH-eGFP cells that were harvested and sequenced were dopaminergic neurons. These techniques will have widespread applications in neuroscience and molecular biology.

Here we report a protocol for culturing ventral midbrain neurons from a mouse expressing eGFP driven by a tyrosine hydroxylase promoter sequence, harvesting individual fluorescent neurons from the cultures, and measuring their RNA transcriptome using RNA-seq (Figure 1). The data showed that 100% of the TH-eGFP-positive cells that were harvested and sequenced were dopaminergic neurons, based on the presence of the following three DA-related gene transcripts, TH, dopa decar...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Reliable Identification of Living Dopaminergic Neurons in Midbrain Cultures Using RNA Sequencing and TH-promoter-driven eGFP Expression at JoVE.com

Reliable Identification of Living Dopaminergic Neurons in Midbrain Cultures Using RNA Sequencing and TH-promoter-driven eGFP Expression

In Parkinson&#39;s Disease (PD), Substantia Nigra (SNc) dopaminergic neurons degenerate, leading to motor dysfunction. Here we report a protocol for culturing ventral midbrain neurons from a mouse expressing eGFP driven by a Tyrosine Hydroxylase (TH) promoter sequence, harvesting individual fluorescent neurons from the cultures, and measuring their transcriptome using RNA-seq.

In Parkinson&#39;s Disease (PD) there is widespread neuronal loss throughout the brain with pronounced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the SNc, ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

Application of a NMDA Receptor Conductance in Rat Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons Using the Dynamic Clamp Technique

Neuroscientists study the function of the brain by investigating how neurons in the brain communicate. Many investigators look at changes in the ...

Organotypic Slice Cultures of Embryonic Ventral Midbrain: A System to Study Dopaminergic Neuronal Development in vitro

Organotypic Slice Cultures of Embryonic Ventral Midbrain: A System to Study Dopaminergic Neuronal Development in vitro

The  mouse is an excellent model organism to study mammalian brain development due  to the abundance of molecular and genetic data. However, the ...

In ovo Electroporation in Chick Midbrain for Studying Gene Function in Dopaminergic Neuron Development

In ovo Electroporation in Chick Midbrain for Studying Gene Function in Dopaminergic Neuron Development

Dopaminergic neurons located in the ventral midbrain control movement, emotional behavior, and reward mechanisms1-3. The dysfunction of ventral midbrain ...

In ovo Expression of MicroRNA in Ventral Chick Midbrain

In ovo Expression of MicroRNA in Ventral Chick Midbrain

Non-coding RNAs are additional players in regulating gene expression. Targeted in ovo electroporation of specific areas provides a unique tool for spatial ...

Assessing Neurodegenerative Phenotypes in Drosophila Dopaminergic Neurons by Climbing Assays and Whole Brain Immunostaining

Assessing Neurodegenerative Phenotypes in Drosophila Dopaminergic Neurons by Climbing Assays and Whole Brain Immunostaining

Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model organism to study aging and pathological degenerative processes in the nervous system. The advantages of the ...

Primary Culture of Mouse Dopaminergic Neurons

Dopaminergic neurons represent less than 1% of the total number of neurons in the brain. This low amount of neurons regulates important brain functions ...

Environmental Modulations of the Number of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons in Adult Mice

Long-lasting changes in the brain or &#8216;brain plasticity&#8217; underlie adaptive behavior and brain repair following disease or injury. Furthermore, ...

Isolation, Culture and Long-Term Maintenance of Primary Mesencephalic Dopaminergic Neurons From Embryonic Rodent Brains

Degeneration of mesencephalic dopaminergic (mesDA) neurons is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson&#8217;s diseae. Study of the biological processes ...

External Excitation of Neurons Using Electric and Magnetic Fields in One- and Two-dimensional Cultures

A neuron will fire an action potential when its membrane potential exceeds a certain threshold. In typical activity of the brain, this occurs as a result ...

Determining Cell-surface Expression and Endocytic Rate of Proteins in Primary Astrocyte Cultures Using Biotinylation

Cell-surface proteins mediate a wide array of functions. In many cases, their activity is regulated by endocytic processes that modulate their levels at ...