Name: robust differentiation of human ipscs into a pure population of adipocytes to study adipocyte-associated disorders
Uploaded: 2022-02-09T14:45:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Robust Differentiation of Human iPSCs into a Pure Population of Adipocytes to Study Adipocyte-Associated Disorders at JoVE.com

This work was funded by a grant from Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) (Grant No. NPRP10-1221-160041). Maryam Aghadi was supported by GSRA scholarship from Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).

The study has been approved by the appropriate institutional research ethics committee and performed following the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of HMC (no. 16260/16) and QBRI (no. 2016-003). This work is also optimized for hESCs such as H1 and H9. Blood samples were obtained from healthy individuals with full informed consent. The iPSCs are generated from periph...

<ol>
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This protocol holds paramount importance due to its ability to provide MSCs in high yield and efficiency. This mass-scale production of MSCs was made possible by transient incubation of iPSCs-derived EBs with 10 &#181;M of RA14,15. Transient treatment with 10 &#181;M of RA enhanced the MSC yield by 11.2 to 1542 folds14,15, with this protocol being applicable on both iPSCs and hPSCs. At this dose and durat...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) act as an effective transitory resource for producing cells of mesodermal origin like adipocytes, osteocytes, and chondrocytes, which could be further used for modeling their respective genetic disorders. However, previous approaches relied on attaining these MSCs from adult tissues1, which imposed the challenge of obtaining them in high numbers from the donors, and the limitation of keeping them functionally viable in suboptimal in vitro culture conditions1,2. These obstacles have produced a great demand of having a protocol for generating MSCs in vitro. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be used as a valuable source of MSCs, exhibiting MSC characteristics3,4,5. iPSCs-derived MSCs can be used as a therapeutic option in several diseases. Also, the ability of iPSCs-derived MSCs to generate adipocytes, makes them a valuable in vitro human model to study human adipogenesis, obesity, and adipocyte-associated disorders.
Current differentiation protocols of adipocytes can be classified into two groups, with one involving differentiation of adipocytes using chemical or protein-based cocktails giving a resultant yield of 30%-60%6,7,8,9, while the other involving genetic manipulation for robust induction of key transcription factors governing adipocytes development to give a yield of 80%-90%10,11. However, genetic manipulation doesn&#39;t recapitulate the natural process of adipocyte differentiation, and often masks the subtle paradigms arriving during adipogenesis, making it ineffective for disease modeling purposes12,13. Therefore, we present a way to sort chemically derived mature adipocytes from immature ones by fluorescently tagging lipid-bearing adipocytes using Nile red.
Here we present a protocol involving transient incubation of iPSCs derived embryoid bodies (EBs) with all-trans retinoic acid to produce a high number of rapidly proliferating MSCs, which could be further used for generating adipocytes14. We also present a way to sort chemically derived mature adipocytes from the heterogeneous differentiation pool by fluorescently tagging their lipid droplets using a lipophilic dye; Nile red. This would allow the generation of a pure population of mature adipocytes with enhanced functionality to accurately model adipocyte-associated metabolic disorders.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Adiponectin</td>
			<td>Abcam</td>
			<td>ab22554</td>
			<td>Adipocyte maturation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD105</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>560839</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD14</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>561712</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD19</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>555415</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD34</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>555824</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD44</td>
			<td>abcam</td>
			<td>ab93758</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD45</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td> 
			560975</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD73</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>550256</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>anti-CD90</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>555596</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>bFGF</td>
			<td>R&#38;D</td>
			<td>233-FP</td>
			<td>MSC culture media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>C/EBPA</td>
			<td>Abcam</td>
			<td>ab40761</td>
			<td>Adipocyte maturation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dexamethasone</td>
			<td>Torics</td>
			<td>1126</td>
			<td>Adipocyte differentiation media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>FABP4</td>
			<td>Abcam</td>
			<td>ab93945</td>
			<td>Adipocyte maturation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fetal bovine serum</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>10082147</td>
			<td>MSC culture media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glutamax</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>35050-061</td>
			<td>MSC culture media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IBMX</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>I5879</td>
			<td>Adipocyte differentiation media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Indomethacin</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>I7378</td>
			<td>Adipocyte differentiation media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Insulin</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>91077C</td>
			<td>Adipocyte differentiation media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Knockout DMEM</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>12660012</td>
			<td>Basal media for preparing matrigel</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low glucose DMEM</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>11885084</td>
			<td>MSC culturing media</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Matrigel</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>354230</td>
			<td>Coating matrix</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MEM-alpha</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>12561056</td>
			<td>Adipocyte differentiation media</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nilered</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>19123</td>
			<td>Sorting marker for adipocyte</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>15140122</td>
			<td>MSC/Adipocyte media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphate-buffered saline</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>14190144</td>
			<td>wash buffer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pierce&#8482; 20X TBS Buffer</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher</td>
			<td>28358</td>
			<td>wash buffer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PPARG</td>
			<td>Cell Signaling Technology</td>
			<td>2443</td>
			<td>Adipocyte maturation marker</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>ReLeSR</td>
			<td>Stem Cell Technologies</td>
			<td>5872</td>
			<td>Dissociation reagent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Retinoic acid</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>R2625</td>
			<td>MSC differentiation media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rock inhibitor</td>
			<td>Tocris</td>
			<td>1254/10</td>
			<td>hPSC culture media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Roziglitazone</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>R2408</td>
			<td>Adipocyte differentiation media supplement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>StemFlex</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>A334901</td>
			<td>hPSC culture media</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triton</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher</td>
			<td>28314</td>
			<td>Permebealization reagent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trypsin</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>25200072</td>
			<td>Dissociation reagent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tween 20</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>P7942</td>
			<td>Wash buffer</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

robust differentiation of human ipscs into a pure population of adipocytes to study adipocyte-associated disorders

Recent advances in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology have allowed the generation of different cell types, including adipocytes. However, the current differentiation methods have low efficiency and do not produce a homogenous population of adipocytes. Here, we circumvent this problem by using an all-trans retinoic-based method to produce mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in high yield. By regulating pathways governing cell proliferation, survival, and adhesion, our differentiation strategy allows the efficient generation of embryonic bodies (EBs) that differentiate into a pure population of multipotent MSCs. The high number of MSCs generated by this method provides an ideal source for generating adipocytes. However, sample heterogeneity resulting from adipocyte differentiation remains a challenge. Therefore, we used a Nile red-based method for purifying lipid-bearing mature adipocytes using FACS. This sorting strategy allowed us to establish a reliable way to model adipocyte-associated metabolic disorders using a pool of adipocytes with reduced sample heterogeneity and enhanced cell functionality.

Schematic and morphology of cells during mesenchymal differentiation: Differentiation of iPSCs into MSCs involves various stages of development spanning across EB formation, MSC differentiation, and MSC expansion (Figure 1). During these stages of development, cells acquire various morphology owing to the different stimulatory chemicals they are subjected to. Upon initiating differentiation, cells are plated in suspension and are expected to be round, with defined cell borders, while being s...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Robust Differentiation of Human iPSCs into a Pure Population of Adipocytes to Study Adipocyte-Associated Disorders at JoVE.com

Robust Differentiation of Human iPSCs into a Pure Population of Adipocytes to Study Adipocyte-Associated Disorders

The protocol allows the generation of a pure adipocyte population from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Retinoic acid is used to differentiate iPSCs into mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which are used for producing adipocytes. Then, a sorting approach based on Nile red staining is used to obtain pure adipocytes.

Recent advances in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology have allowed the generation of different cell types, including adipocytes. However, the ...

Previous approaches relied on highly invasive methods for obtaining mesenchymal stem cells in vitro, but those mesenchymal stem cells had a limitation of producing heterogeneous pool of 30%with efficiency ranging from 30 to 60%Here, we present a protocol for producing high number of rapidly proliferating mesenchymal stem cells that can produce a pure population of mature adipocytes by sorting using Nile red. When the iPSCs have reached 80%confluence, wash the cells with DPBS and add dissociation medium containing EDTA. Incubate the cells at 37 degrees Celsius for one minute.After one minute, aspirate the dissociation reagent and place the cells at 37 degrees Celsius for an additional one minute. Next, remove the plate from the incubator. Add one milliliter of StemFlex media per well and carefully collect the cells in a 15-milliliter conical tube.Centrifuge the cells. Remove the supernatant, and gently resuspend them in three milliliters of MSC differentiation media containing 10 micromoles of a rock inhibitor. Mix the cell suspension and distribute 500 microliters per well in a 24-well ultra-low attachment plate.Then place the plate in an incubator at 37 degrees Celsius. After 24 hours, to induce the attained embryonic bodies, collect them in a 15-milliliter tube and allow them to settle down. After 15 minutes, remove the supernatant and add MSC differentiation medium supplemented with 10 micromolar retinoic acid.Resuspend the embryonic bodies gently and distribute 500 microliters per well in the same 24-well ultra-low attachment plate. Then place the plate in the incubator. After 48 hours, collect the embryonic bodies in a 15-milliliter tube and allow them to settle down for 15 minutes.Then remove the supernatant and add MSC differentiation medium supplemented with 0.1 micromolar retinoic acid. After resuspending the embryonic bodies, distribute 500 microliters per well in the same 24-well plate and place the plate in the incubator. Forty-eight hours after the last retinoic acid treatment, collect the embryonic bodies, remove the supernatant, and add DMEM low-glucose medium without cytokines.Gently resuspend and distribute 500 microliters of the cell suspension per well in the same 24-well ultra-low attachment plate, then incubate the plate at 37 degrees Celsius. After 48 hours, to plate the iPSC-derived embryonic bodies, collect the embryonic bodies in a 15-milliliter tube, allow them to settle, then remove the supernatant, and resuspend in two milliliters of fresh MSC differentiation medium. Next, transfer the suspension to two wells of a basement membrane matrix-coated six-well plate and incubate the cells at 37 degrees Celsius.After five days, replace the spent media with a fresh MSC differentiation medium containing 2.5 nanograms per milliliter of basic fibroblast growth factor and continue the MCS differentiation for up to 11 and 15 days. When the plated embryonic bodies have reached 80 to 90%confluence, passage them by washing with DPBS, adding Trypsin-EDTA, and incubating at 37 degrees Celsius for one minute. Remove the Trypsin-EDTA from the plate and incubate again at 37 degrees Celsius for one minute.Next, add one milliliter media per well. After three minutes, collect the cells using MSC differentiation media in a 15-milliliter conical tube and centrifuge the cells. Then resuspend the cells in an MSC differentiation medium containing basic fibroblast growth factor and plate the cells on basement membrane matrix-coated plates at a ratio of one to three.After the MSCs have reached 90%confluence, continue culturing them for another 48 hours to allow them to undergo a period of growth arrest. Then remove the medium and wash the cells with DBPS. After the wash, add complete adipocyte differentiation medium to the plate and incubate the cells at 37 degrees Celsius.Change the medium every other day for 14 days. Differentiate iPSC-derived MSCs into adipocytes. To sort the adipocytes using Nile red, prepare Nile red working solution in DMSO as described in the text manuscript.Before use, thaw the stock solution and reconstitute it in DPBS to attain a 300-nanomolar working solution concentration. On or after day 14 of adipocyte differentiation, discard the medium from the cells and wash using DPBS. Then add Nile red working solution.Cover the plate and incubate the cells at 37 degrees Celsius. After 15 minutes, replace the Nile red solution with Trypsin-EDTA and incubate the cells at 37 degrees Celsius for four minutes. Then collect the cells using DMEM containing 5%FBS in a 15-milliliter conical tube and centrifuge the cells.Remove the supernatant and resuspend the cells in DPBS at a density of 1 million cells per milliliter. Then using the FACS sorter, isolate the Nile red-positive cells using the FL-1 channel. Collect the sorted cells and reculture them in adipocyte differentiation media or proceed to RNA extraction followed by quantitative analysis of adipocyte differentiation markers.Upon initiating differentiation, cells plated in suspension are round with defined cell borders and are small to medium size in diameter. The viability of embryonic bodies is observed by the rapid proliferation behavior giving rise to more MSCs. This rapid proliferation behavior, along with their peculiar and elongated morphology, is retained even after passaging the MSCs onto fresh matrix-coated plates.Good differentiation produces reliable MSCs with greater than 90%expression efficiency of mesenchymal surface markers CD73, CD44, and CD90. In addition, assessment of cells for the absence of surface markers depicting the hematopoietic phenotype CD14, CD34, and CD19 showed less than 1%expression efficiency, High expression in cytoplasmic distribution of FABP4, a marker for terminally-differentiated adipocytes, indicates their developmental maturity. Additionally, high expression of adiponectin, another marker of adipocyte maturity, indicates that the adipocytes are functional enough to undergo lipid storage and adipogenesis in response to glucose signaling.Upon staining, Nile red exclusively binds to the lipid-bearing mature adipocytes, making it an effective tool for sorting mature adipocytes using fluorescent-activated flow cytometry. The Nile red-positive cells show a significant upregulation of maturation markers by at least two-folds compared to unsorted cells. You have to be very gentle while collecting cells during embryonic body formation and mesenchymal cell dissociation as that would highly impact the survival efficiency post-dissociation of mesenchymal stem cells.Pure population of adipocytes attained from mutation-carrying patients can be subjected to functional and the whole transcriptome sequencing to determine regulatory and signaling pathways affected by particular mutation without the data being affected by sample heterogeneity. This technique will allow scalable generation of mesenchymal stem cells in vitro, removing the need of harvesting them from human donors to readily differentiate them to adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteocytes for understanding tissue-related disease pathogenesis.

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Research

JoVE Journal

Developmental Biology

Generation of Human Adipose Stem Cells through Dedifferentiation of Mature Adipocytes in Ceiling Cultures

Mature adipocytes have been shown to reverse their phenotype into fibroblast-like cells in vitro through a technique called ceiling culture. Mature adipocytes can also be isolated from fresh adipose tissue for depot-specific characterization of their function and metabolic properties. Here, we describe a well-established protocol to isolate mature adipocytes from adipose tissues using collagenase digestion, and subsequent steps to perform ceiling cultures. Briefly, adipose tissues are incubated in a Krebs-Ringer-Henseleit buffer containing collagenase to disrupt tissue matrix. Floating mature adipocytes are collected on the top surface of the buffer. Mature cells are plated in a T25-flask completely filled with media and incubated upside down for a week. An alternative 6-well plate culture approach allows the characterization of adipocytes undergoing dedifferentiation. Adipocyte morphology drastically changes over time of culture. Immunofluorescence can be easily performed on slides cultivated in 6-well plates as demonstrated by FABP4 immunofluorescence staining. FABP4 protein is present in mature adipocytes but down-regulated through dedifferentiation of fat cells. Mature adipocyte dedifferentiation may represent a new avenue for cell therapy and tissue engineering.

Mature adipocytes may represent an abundant source of stem cells through dedifferentiation, which leads to a homogenous population of fibroblast-like cells. Collagenase digestion is used to isolate mature adipocytes from human fat. The goal of our protocol is to obtain multipotent, dedifferentiated fat cells from human mature adipocytes.

Mature adipocytes have been shown to reverse their phenotype into fibroblast-like cells in vitro through a technique called ceiling culture. Mature ...

Analysis of Zebrafish Larvae Skeletal Muscle Integrity with Evans Blue Dye

The zebrafish model is an emerging system for the study of neuromuscular disorders. In the study of neuromuscular diseases, the integrity of the muscle membrane is a critical disease determinant. To date, numerous neuromuscular conditions display degenerating muscle fibers with abnormal membrane integrity; this is most commonly observed in muscular dystrophies. Evans Blue Dye (EBD) is a vital, cell permeable dye that is rapidly taken into degenerating, damaged, or apoptotic cells; in contrast, it is not taken up by cells with an intact membrane. EBD injection is commonly employed to ascertain muscle integrity in mouse models of neuromuscular diseases. However, such EBD experiments require muscle dissection and/or sectioning prior to analysis. In contrast, EBD uptake in zebrafish is visualized in live, intact preparations. Here, we demonstrate a simple and straightforward methodology for performing EBD injections and analysis in live zebrafish. In addition, we demonstrate a co-injection strategy to increase efficacy of EBD analysis. Overall, this video article provides an outline to perform EBD injection and characterization in zebrafish models of neuromuscular disease.

In this study, we describe a straightforward method to perform Evans Blue Dye (EBD) analysis on zebrafish larvae. This technique is a powerful tool for the characterization of skeletal muscle integrity and delineation of zebrafish models of muscular dystrophy, and is a valuable method for the development of novel therapeutics.

The zebrafish model is an emerging system for the study of neuromuscular disorders.  In the study of neuromuscular diseases, the integrity of the muscle ...

Differentiation of the SH-SY5Y Human Neuroblastoma Cell Line

Having appropriate in vivo and in vitro systems that provide translational models for human disease is an integral aspect of research in neurobiology and the neurosciences. Traditional in vitro experimental models used in neurobiology include primary neuronal cultures from rats and mice, neuroblastoma cell lines including rat B35 and mouse Neuro-2A cells, rat PC12 cells, and short-term slice cultures. While many researchers rely on these models, they lack a human component and observed experimental effects could be exclusive to the respective species and may not occur identically in humans. Additionally, although these cells are neurons, they may have unstable karyotypes, making their use problematic for studies of gene expression and reproducible studies of cell signaling. It is therefore important to develop more consistent models of human neurological disease. 
The following procedure describes an easy-to-follow, reproducible method to obtain homogenous and viable human neuronal cultures, by differentiating the chromosomally stable human neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y. This method integrates several previously described methods1-4 and is based on sequential removal of serum from media. The timeline includes gradual serum-starvation, with introduction of extracellular matrix proteins and neurotrophic factors. This allows neurons to differentiate, while epithelial cells are selected against, resulting in a homogeneous neuronal culture. Representative results demonstrate the successful differentiation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells from an initial epithelial-like cell phenotype into a more expansive and branched neuronal phenotype. This protocol offers a reliable way to generate homogeneous populations of neuronal cultures that can be used for subsequent biochemical and molecular analyses, which provides researchers with a more accurate translational model of human infection and disease.

It is critical in neurobiology and neurovirology to have a reliable, replicable in vitro system that serves as a translational model for what occurs in vivo in human neurons. This protocol describes how to culture and differentiate SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells into viable neurons for use in in vitro applications.

Having appropriate in vivo and in vitro systems that provide translational models for human disease is an integral aspect of research in neurobiology and ...

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Trophoblastic Cells

The placenta is the first organ to develop during embryogenesis and is required for the survival of the developing embryo. The placenta is comprised of various trophoblastic cells that differentiate from the extra-embryonic trophectoderm cells of the preimplantation blastocyst. As such, our understanding of the early differentiation events of the human placenta is limited because of ethical and legal restrictions on the isolation and manipulation of human embryogenesis. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are a robust model system for investigating human development and can also be differentiated in vitro into trophoblastic cells that express markers of the various trophoblast cell types. Here, we present a detailed protocol for differentiating hPSCs into trophoblastic cells using bone morphogenic protein 4 and inhibitors of the Activin/Nodal signaling pathways. This protocol generates various trophoblast cell types that can be transfected with siRNAs for investigating loss-of-function phenotypes or can be infected with pathogens. Additionally, hPSCs can be genetically modified and then differentiated into trophoblast progenitors for gain-of-function analyses. This in vitro differentiation method for generating human trophoblasts starting from hPSCs overcomes the ethical and legal restrictions of working with early human embryos, and this system can be used for a variety of applications, including drug discovery and stem cell research.

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Trophoblastic Cells

Here, we present a protocol to efficiently generate human trophoblastic cells from human pluripotent stem cells using bone morphogenic protein 4 and inhibitors of the Activin/Nodal pathways. This method is suitable for the efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells and can generate large quantities of cells for genetic manipulation.

The placenta is the first organ to develop during embryogenesis and is required for the survival of the developing embryo. The placenta is comprised of ...

Generation of iPSC-derived Human Brain Organoids to Model Early Neurodevelopmental Disorders

The restricted availability of suitable in vitro models that can reliably represent complex human brain development is a significant bottleneck that limits the translation of basic brain research into clinical application. While induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have replaced the ethically questionable human embryonic stem cells, iPSC-based neuronal differentiation studies remain descriptive at the cellular level but fail to adequately provide the details that could be derived from a complex, 3D human brain tissue. 
This gap is now filled through the application of iPSC-derived, 3D brain organoids, "Brains in a dish," that model many features of complex human brain development. Here, a method for generating iPSC-derived, 3D brain organoids is described. The organoids can help with modeling autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH), a rare human neurodevelopmental disorder. A widely accepted explanation for the brain malformation in MCPH is a depletion of the neural stem cell pool during the early stages of human brain development, a developmental defect that is difficult to recreate or prove in vitro. 
To study MCPH, we generated iPSCs from patient-derived fibroblasts carrying a mutation in the centrosomal protein CPAP. By analyzing the ventricular zone of microcephaly 3D brain organoids, we showed the premature differentiation of neural progenitors. These 3D brain organoids are a powerful in vitro system that will be instrumental in modeling congenital brain disorders induced by neurotoxic chemicals, neurotrophic viral infections, or inherited genetic mutations.

Modeling human brain development has been hindered due to the unprecedented complexity of neural epithelial tissue. Here, a method for the robust generation of brain organoids to delineate early events of human brain development and to model microcephaly in vitro is described.

The restricted availability of suitable in vitro models that can reliably represent complex human brain development is a significant bottleneck that ...

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Functional Cardiomyocyte-like Cells

Myocardial infarction and the subsequent ischemic cascade result in the extensive loss of cardiomyocytes, leading to congestive heart failure, the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising option for cell-based therapies to replace current, invasive techniques. MSCs can differentiate into mesenchymal lineages, including cardiac cell types, but complete differentiation into functional cells has not yet been achieved. Previous methods of differentiation were based on pharmacological agents or growth factors. However, more physiologically relevant strategies can also enable MSCs to undergo cardiomyogenic transformation. Here, we present a differentiation method using MSC aggregates on cardiomyocyte feeder layers to produce cardiomyocyte-like contracting cells.
Human umbilical cord perivascular cells (HUCPVCs) have been shown to have a greater differentiation potential than commonly investigated MSC types, such as bone marrow MSCs (BMSCs). As an ontogenetically younger source, we investigated the cardiomyogenic potential of first-trimester (FTM) HUCPVCs compared to older sources. FTM HUCPVCs are a novel, rich source of MSCs that retain their in utero immunoprivileged properties when cultured in vitro. Using this differentiation protocol, FTM and term HUCPVCs achieved significantly increased cardiomyogenic differentiation compared to BMSCs, as indicated by the increased expression of cardiomyocyte markers (i.e., myocyte enhancer factor 2C, cardiac troponin T, heavy chain cardiac myosin, signal regulatory protein &#945;, and connexin 43). They also maintained significantly lower immunogenicity, as demonstrated by their lower HLA-A expression and higher HLA-G expression. Applying aggregate-based differentiation, FTM HUCPVCs showed increased aggregate formation potential and generated contracting cells clusters within 1 week of co-culture on cardiac feeder layers, becoming the first MSC type to do so. 
Our results demonstrate that this differentiation strategy can effectively harness the cardiomyogenic potential of young MSCs, such as FTM HUCPVCs, and suggests that in vitro pre-differentiation could be a potential strategy to increase their regenerative efficacy in vivo.

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Functional Cardiomyocyte-like Cells

Here, we present a method to efficiently harness the cardiac differentiation potential of young sources of human mesenchymal stem cells in order to generate functional, contracting, cardiomyocyte-like cells in vitro.

Myocardial infarction and the subsequent ischemic cascade result in the extensive loss of cardiomyocytes, leading to congestive heart failure, the leading ...

Suppression of Pro-fibrotic Signaling Potentiates Factor-mediated Reprogramming of Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts into Induced Cardiomyocytes

Trans-differentiation of one somatic cell type into another has enormous potential to model and treat human diseases. Previous studies have shown that mouse embryonic, dermal, and cardiac fibroblasts can be reprogrammed into functional induced-cardiomyocyte-like cells (iCMs) through overexpression of cardiogenic transcription factors including GATA4, Hand2, Mef2c, and Tbx5 both in vitro and in vivo. However, these previous studies have shown relatively low efficiency. In order to restore heart function following injury, mechanisms governing cardiac reprogramming must be elucidated to increase efficiency and maturation of iCMs.
We previously demonstrated that inhibition of pro-fibrotic signaling dramatically increases reprogramming efficiency. Here, we detail methods to achieve a reprogramming efficiency of up to 60%. Furthermore, we describe several methods including flow cytometry, immunofluorescent imaging, and calcium imaging to quantify reprogramming efficiency and maturation of reprogrammed fibroblasts. Using the protocol detailed here, mechanistic studies can be undertaken to determine positive and negative regulators of cardiac reprogramming. These studies may identify signaling pathways that can be targeted to promote reprogramming efficiency and maturation, which could lead to novel cell therapies to treat human heart disease.

Here we present a robust method to reprogram primary embryonic fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes through overexpression of GATA4, Hand2, Mef2c, Tbx5, miR-1, and miR-133 (GHMT2m) alongside inhibition of TGF-&#946; signaling. Our protocol generates beating cardiomyocytes as early as 7 days post-transduction with up to 60% efficiency.

Trans-differentiation of one somatic cell type into another has enormous potential to model and treat human diseases. Previous studies have shown that ...

Efficient Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Liver Cells

The liver detoxifies harmful substances, secretes vital proteins, and executes key metabolic activities, thus sustaining life. Consequently, liver failure&#8212;which can be caused by chronic alcohol intake, hepatitis, acute poisoning, or other insults&#8212;is a severe condition that can culminate in bleeding, jaundice, coma, and eventually death. However, approaches to treat liver failure, as well as studies of liver function and disease, have been stymied in part by the lack of a plentiful supply of human liver cells. To this end, this protocol details the efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into hepatocyte-like cells, guided by a developmental roadmap that describes how liver fate is specified across six consecutive differentiation steps. By manipulating developmental signaling pathways to promote liver differentiation and to explicitly suppress the formation of unwanted cell fates, this method efficiently generates populations of human liver bud progenitors and hepatocyte-like cells by days 6 and 18 of PSC differentiation, respectively. This is achieved through the temporally-precise control of developmental signaling pathways, exerted by small molecules and growth factors in a serum-free culture medium. Differentiation in this system occurs in monolayers and yields hepatocyte-like cells that express characteristic hepatocyte enzymes and have the ability to engraft a mouse model of chronic liver failure. The ability to efficiently generate large numbers of human liver cells in vitro has ramifications for treatment of liver failure, for drug screening, and for mechanistic studies of liver disease.

This protocol details a monolayer, serum-free method to efficiently generate hepatocyte-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in 18 days. This entails six steps as hPSCs sequentially differentiate into intermediate cell-types such as the primitive streak, definitive endoderm, posterior foregut and liver bud progenitors before forming hepatocyte-like cells.

The liver detoxifies harmful substances, secretes vital proteins, and executes key metabolic activities, thus sustaining life. Consequently, liver ...

Efficient Neural Differentiation using Single-Cell Culture of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

In vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has transformed the ability to study human development on both biological and molecular levels and provided cells for use in regenerative applications. Standard approaches for hESC culture using colony type culture to maintain undifferentiated hESCs and embryoid body (EB) and rosette formation for differentiation into different germ layers are inefficient and time-consuming. Presented here is a single-cell culture method using hESCs instead of a colony-type culture. This method allows maintenance of the characteristic features of undifferentiated hESCs, including expression of hESC markers at levels comparable to colony type hESCs. In addition, the protocol presents an efficient method for neural progenitor cell (NPC) generation from single-cell type hESCs that produces NPCs within 1 week. These cells highly express several NPC marker genes and can differentiate into various neural cell types, including dopaminergic neurons and astrocytes. This single-cell culture system for hESCs will be useful in investigating the molecular mechanisms of these processes, studies of certain diseases, and drug discovery screens.

Presented here is a protocol for the generation of a single-cell culture of human embryonic stem cells and their subsequent differentiation into neural progenitor cells. The protocol is simple, robust, scalable, and suitable for drug screening and regenerative medicine applications.

In vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has transformed the ability to study human development on both biological and molecular ...

Directed Differentiation of Hemogenic Endothelial Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Blood vessels are ubiquitously distributed within all tissues of the body and perform diverse functions. Thus, derivation of mature vascular endothelial cells, which line blood vessel lumens, from human pluripotent stem cells is crucial for a multitude of tissue engineering and regeneration applications. In vivo, primordial endothelial cells are derived from the mesodermal lineage and are specified toward specific subtypes, including arterial, venous, capillary, hemogenic, and lymphatic. Hemogenic endothelial cells are of particular interest because, during development, they give rise to hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, which then generate all blood lineages throughout life. Thus, creating a system to generate hemogenic endothelial cells in vitro would provide an opportunity to study endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition, and may lead to ex vivo production of human blood products and reduced reliance on human donors. While several protocols exist for the derivation of progenitor and primordial endothelial cells, generation of well-characterized hemogenic endothelial cells from human stem cells has not been described. Here, a method for the derivation of hemogenic endothelial cells from human embryonic stem cells in approximately 1 week is presented: a differentiation protocol with primitive streak cells formed in response to GSK3&#946; inhibitor (CHIR99021), then mesoderm lineage induction mediated by bFGF, followed by primordial endothelial cell development promoted by BMP4 and VEGF-A, and finally hemogenic endothelial cell specification induced by retinoic acid. This protocol yields a well-defined population of hemogenic endothelial cells that can be used to further understand their molecular regulation and endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition, which has the potential to be applied to downstream therapeutic applications.

Presented here is a simple protocol for the directed differentiation of hemogenic endothelial cells from human pluripotent stem cells in approximately 1 week.

Blood vessels are ubiquitously distributed within all tissues of the body and perform diverse functions. Thus, derivation of mature vascular endothelial ...