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Striatal progenitors derived from human ES cells mature into DARPP32 neurons in vitro and in quinolinic acid-lesioned rats.

ABSTRACT: Substitutive cell therapy using fetal striatal grafts has demonstrated preliminary clinical success in patients with Huntington's disease, but the logistics required for accessing fetal cells preclude its extension to the relevant population of patients. Human embryonic stem (hES) cells theoretically meet this challenge, because they can be expanded indefinitely and differentiated into any cell type. We have designed an in vitro protocol combining substrates, media, and cytokines to push hES cells along the neural lineage, up to postmitotic neurons expressing striatal markers. The therapeutic potential of such hES-derived cells was further substantiated by their in vivo differentiation into striatal neurons following xenotransplantation into adult rats. Our results open the way toward hES cell therapy for Huntington's disease. Long-term proliferation of human neural progenitors leads, however, to xenograft overgrowth in the rat brain, suggesting that the path to the clinic requires a way to switch them off after grafting.

SUBMITTER: Aubry L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2575484 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Striatal progenitors derived from human ES cells mature into DARPP32 neurons in vitro and in quinolinic acid-lesioned rats.

Aubry Laetitia L Bugi Aurore A Lefort Nathalie N Rousseau France F Peschanski Marc M Perrier Anselme L AL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20081015 43

Substitutive cell therapy using fetal striatal grafts has demonstrated preliminary clinical success in patients with Huntington's disease, but the logistics required for accessing fetal cells preclude its extension to the relevant population of patients. Human embryonic stem (hES) cells theoretically meet this challenge, because they can be expanded indefinitely and differentiated into any cell type. We have designed an in vitro protocol combining substrates, media, and cytokines to push hES cel ...[more]

PMID: 18922775

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Project description:Some of the tryptophan catabolites produced through the kynurenine pathway (KP), and more particularly the excitotoxin quinolinic acid (QA), are likely to play a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have previously shown that the KP is over activated in AD brain and that QA accumulates in amyloid plaques and within dystrophic neurons. We hypothesized that QA in pathophysiological concentrations affects tau phosphorylation. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that QA is co-localized with hyperphosphorylated tau (HPT) within cortical neurons in AD brain. We then investigated in vitro the effects of QA at various pathophysiological concentrations on tau phosphorylation in primary cultures of human neurons. Using western blot, we found that QA treatment increased the phosphorylation of tau at serine 199/202, threonine 231 and serine 396/404 in a dose dependent manner. Increased accumulation of phosphorylated tau was also confirmed by immunocytochemistry. This increase in tau phosphorylation was paralleled by a substantial decrease in the total protein phosphatase activity. A substantial decrease in PP2A expression and modest decrease in PP1 expression were observed in neuronal cultures treated with QA. These data clearly demonstrate that QA can induce tau phosphorylation at residues present in the PHF in the AD brain. To induce tau phosphorylation, QA appears to act through NMDA receptor activation similar to other agonists, glutamate and NMDA. The QA effect was abrogated by the NMDA receptor antagonist memantine. Using PCR arrays, we found that QA significantly induces 10 genes in human neurons all known to be associated with AD pathology. Of these 10 genes, 6 belong to pathways involved in tau phosphorylation and 4 of them in neuroprotection. Altogether these results indicate a likely role of QA in the AD pathology through promotion of tau phosphorylation. Understanding the mechanism of the neurotoxic effects of QA is essential in developing novel therapeutic strategies for AD.

Project description:Unlabelled: Huntington's disease (HD) results from a CAG repeat expansion in the gene encoding the huntingtin protein. This inherited disorder is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration. In particular, HD progression involves the loss of striatal projection neurons. The limited availability of reliable sources of human striatal projection neurons currently hampers our understanding of HD mechanisms and hinders the development of novel HD treatments. In this paper, we described two- and three-step methods for differentiating human neural progenitor cells toward striatal projection neurons. In the two-step differentiation protocol, 90%, 54%, and 6% of MAP2-positive cells were immunopositive for GABA, calbindin (CALB1), and DARPP-32/PPP1R1B, respectively. In the three-step differentiation protocol, 96%, 84%, and 21% of MAP2-positive cells were immunopositive for GABA, calbindin, and DARPP-32/PPP1R1B, respectively. In line with a striatal projection neuron phenotype, cells differentiated with our protocols displayed significantly increased expression of MAP2, CALB1, DARPP-32/PPP1R1B, ARPP21, and CTIP2. Application of glutamate receptor agonists induced calcium influx; accordingly, the cells also expressed various ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits. Differentiated cells also released GABA on stimulation. We suggest that our three-step differentiation protocol presents a reliable and simplified method for the generation of striatal projection neurons, yielding a critical resource for neuronal physiology and neurodegenerative disorder studies.SignificanceThe earliest changes in the neurodegenerative disorder Huntington's disease affect a specific type of brain neurons, the so-called medium spiny neurons of the striatum. In this study, two protocols were developed for the differentiation of neural progenitor cells into striatal medium spiny neurons, and the differentiated neurons were extensively characterized. The data indicate that the three-step differentiation protocol presents a reliable and simplified method for the generation of striatal medium spiny neurons. The generated striatal medium spiny neurons could represent a critical resource for the study of neurodegenerative disorders, a model system for drug discovery, and a step toward cell-based regeneration therapies.

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Striatal progenitors derived from human ES cells mature into DARPP32 neurons in vitro and in quinolinic acid-lesioned rats.

Publications

Striatal progenitors derived from human ES cells mature into DARPP32 neurons in vitro and in quinolinic acid-lesioned rats.

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