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Generation of inner ear sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells in 3D culture.

ABSTRACT: The inner ear contains sensory epithelia that detect head movements, gravity and sound. It is unclear how to develop these sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells, a process that will be critical for modelling inner ear disorders or developing cell-based therapies for profound hearing loss and balance disorders. So far, attempts to derive inner ear mechanosensitive hair cells and sensory neurons have resulted in inefficient or incomplete phenotypic conversion of stem cells into inner-ear-like cells. A key insight lacking from these previous studies is the importance of the non-neural and preplacodal ectoderm, two critical precursors during inner ear development. Here we report the stepwise differentiation of inner ear sensory epithelia from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in three-dimensional culture. We show that by recapitulating in vivo development with precise temporal control of signalling pathways, ESC aggregates transform sequentially into non-neural, preplacodal and otic-placode-like epithelia. Notably, in a self-organized process that mimics normal development, vesicles containing prosensory cells emerge from the presumptive otic placodes and give rise to hair cells bearing stereocilia bundles and a kinocilium. Moreover, these stem-cell-derived hair cells exhibit functional properties of native mechanosensitive hair cells and form specialized synapses with sensory neurons that have also arisen from ESCs in the culture. Finally, we demonstrate how these vesicles are structurally and biochemically comparable to developing vestibular end organs. Our data thus establish a new in vitro model of inner ear differentiation that can be used to gain deeper insight into inner ear development and disorder.

SUBMITTER: Koehler KR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3739998 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Generation of inner ear sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells in 3D culture.

Koehler Karl R KR Mikosz Andrew M AM Molosh Andrei I AI Patel Dharmeshkumar D Hashino Eri E

Nature 20130710 7461

The inner ear contains sensory epithelia that detect head movements, gravity and sound. It is unclear how to develop these sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells, a process that will be critical for modelling inner ear disorders or developing cell-based therapies for profound hearing loss and balance disorders. So far, attempts to derive inner ear mechanosensitive hair cells and sensory neurons have resulted in inefficient or incomplete phenotypic conversion of stem cells into inner-ear-l ...[more]

PMID: 23842490

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Project description:The peripheral hearing process taking place in the cochlea mainly depends on two distinct sensory cell types: the mechanosensitive hair cells and the spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The first respond to the mechanical stimulation exerted by sound pressure waves on their hair bundles by releasing neurotransmitters and thereby activating the latter. Loss of these sensorineural cells is associated with permanent hearing loss. Stem cell-based approaches aiming at cell replacement or in vitro drug testing to identify potential ototoxic, otoprotective, or regenerative compounds have lately gained attention as putative therapeutic strategies for hearing loss. Nevertheless, they rely on efficient and reliable protocols for the in vitro generation of cochlear sensory cells for their implementation. To this end, we have developed a differentiation protocol based on organoid culture systems, which mimics the most important steps of in vivo otic development, robustly guiding mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) toward otic sensory neurons (OSNs). The stepwise differentiation of mESCs toward ectoderm was initiated using a quick aggregation method in presence of Matrigel in serum-free conditions. Non-neural ectoderm was induced via activation of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling and concomitant inhibition of transforming growth factor beta (TGF?) signaling to prevent mesendoderm induction. Preplacodal and otic placode ectoderm was further induced by inhibition of BMP signaling and addition of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2). Delamination and differentiation of SGNs was initiated by plating of the organoids on a 2D Matrigel-coated substrate. Supplementation with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) was used for further maturation until 15 days of in vitro differentiation. A large population of neurons with a clear bipolar morphology and functional excitability was derived from these cultures. Immunostaining and gene expression analysis performed at different time points confirmed the transition trough the otic lineage and final expression of the key OSN markers. Moreover, the stem cell-derived OSNs exhibited functional electrophysiological properties of native SGNs. Our established in vitro model of OSNs development can be used for basic developmental studies, for drug screening or for the exploration of their regenerative potential.

Project description:BackgroundPigs have emerged as one of the most popular large animal models in biomedical research, which in many cases is considered as a superior choice over rodent models. In addition, transplantation studies using pig pluripotent stem (PS) cell derivatives may serve as a testbed for safety and efficacy prior to human trials. Recently, it has been shown that mouse and human PS cells cultured in LCDM (recombinant human LIF, CHIR 99021, (S)-(+)-dimethindene maleate, minocycline hydrochloride) medium exhibited extended developmental potential (designated as extended pluripotent stem cells, or EPS cells), which could generate both embryonic and extraembryonic tissues in chimeric mouse conceptus. Whether stable pig induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated in LCDM medium and their chimeric competency remains unknown.MethodsiPS cells were generated by infecting pig pericytes (PC) and embryonic fibroblasts (PEFs) with a retroviral vector encoding Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc reprogramming factors and subsequently cultured in a modified LCDM medium. The pluripotency of PC-iPS and PEF-iPS cells was characterized by examining the expression of pluripotency-related transcription factors and surface markers, transcriptome analysis, and in vitro and in vivo differentiation capabilities. Chimeric contribution of PC-iPS cells to mouse and pig conceptus was also evaluated with fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and PCR analysis.ResultsIn this study, using a modified version of the LCDM medium, we successfully generated iPS cells from both PCs and PEFs. Both PC-iPS and PEF-iPS cells maintained the stable "dome-shaped" morphology and genome stability after long-term culture. The immunocytochemistry analyses revealed that both PC-iPS and PEF-iPS cells expressed OCT4, SOX2, and SALL4, but only PC-iPS cells expressed NANOG and TRA-1-81 (faint). PC-iPS and PEF-iPS cells could be differentiated into cell derivatives of all three primary germ layers in vitro. The transcriptome analysis showed that PEF-iPS and PC-iPS cells clustered with pig ICM, Heatmap and volcano plot showed that there were 1475 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between PC-iPS and PEF-iPS cells (adjusted p value < 0.1), and the numbers of upregulated genes and downregulated genes in PC-iPS cells were 755 and 720, respectively. Upregulated genes were enriched with GO terms including regulation of stem cell differentiation, proliferation, development, and maintenance. And KEGG pathway enrichment in upregulated genes revealed Wnt, Jak-STAT, TGF-β, P53, and MAPK stem cell signaling pathways. Fluorescence microscopy and genomic PCR analyses using pig mtDNA-specific and GFP primers showed that the PC-iPS cell derivatives could be detected in both mouse and pig pre-implantation blastocysts and post-implantation conceptuses. Quantitative analysis via flow cytometry revealed that the chimeric contribution of pig PC-iPS cells in mouse conceptus was up to 0.04%.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that stable iPS cells could be generated in LCDM medium, which could give rise to both embryonic and extraembryonic cells in vivo. However, the efficiency and level of chimeric contribution of pig LCDM-iPS cells were found low.

Dataset Information

Generation of inner ear sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells in 3D culture.

Publications

Generation of inner ear sensory epithelia from pluripotent stem cells in 3D culture.

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