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Cellular Zinc Homeostasis Contributes to Neuronal Differentiation in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

ABSTRACT: Disturbances in neuronal differentiation and function are an underlying factor of many brain disorders. Zinc homeostasis and signaling are important mediators for a normal brain development and function, given that zinc deficiency was shown to result in cognitive and emotional deficits in animal models that might be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. One underlying mechanism of the observed detrimental effects of zinc deficiency on the brain might be impaired proliferation and differentiation of stem cells participating in neurogenesis. Thus, to examine the molecular mechanisms regulating zinc metabolism and signaling in differentiating neurons, using a protocol for motor neuron differentiation, we characterized the expression of zinc homeostasis genes during neurogenesis using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and evaluated the influence of altered zinc levels on the expression of zinc homeostasis genes, cell survival, cell fate, and neuronal function. Our results show that zinc transporters are highly regulated genes during neuronal differentiation and that low zinc levels are associated with decreased cell survival, altered neuronal differentiation, and, in particular, synaptic function. We conclude that zinc deficiency in a critical time window during brain development might influence brain function by modulating neuronal differentiation.

SUBMITTER: Pfaender S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4876239 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cellular Zinc Homeostasis Contributes to Neuronal Differentiation in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Pfaender Stefanie S Föhr Karl K Lutz Anne-Kathrin AK Putz Stefan S Achberger Kevin K Linta Leonhard L Liebau Stefan S Boeckers Tobias M TM Grabrucker Andreas M AM

Neural plasticity 20160509

Disturbances in neuronal differentiation and function are an underlying factor of many brain disorders. Zinc homeostasis and signaling are important mediators for a normal brain development and function, given that zinc deficiency was shown to result in cognitive and emotional deficits in animal models that might be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. One underlying mechanism of the observed detrimental effects of zinc deficiency on the brain might be impaired proliferation and differe ...[more]

PMID: 27247802

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Project description:Cellular organelles play fundamental roles in almost all cell behaviors. Mitochondria have been reported to be functionally linked to various biological processes, including reprogramming and pluripotency maintenance. However, very little about the role of mitochondria has been revealed in human early development and lineage specification. Here, we reported the characteristics and function of mitochondria during human definitive endoderm differentiation. Using a well-established differentiation system, we first investigated the change of mitochondrial morphology by comparing undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells, the intermediate mesendoderm cells, and differentiated endoderm cells, and found that mitochondria were gradually elongated and matured along differentiation. We further analyzed the expression pattern of mitochondria-related genes by RNA-seq, indicating that mitochondria became active during differentiation. Supporting this notion, the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) was increased as well. Functionally, we utilized chemicals and genome editing techniques, which could interfere with mitochondrial homeostasis, to determine the role of mitochondria in human endoderm differentiation. Treatment with mitochondrial inhibitors, or genetic depletion of mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), significantly reduced the differentiation efficiency of definitive endoderm. In addition, the defect in endoderm differentiation due to dysfunctional mitochondria could be restored to some extent by the addition of ATP. Moreover, the clearance of excessive ROS due to dysfunctional mitochondria by N-acetylcysteine (NAC) improved the differentiation as well. We further found that ATP and NAC could partially replace the growth factor activin A for definitive endoderm differentiation. Our study illustrates the essential role of mitochondria during human endoderm differentiation through providing ATP and regulating ROS levels, which may provide new insight for metabolic regulation of cell fate determination.

Project description:RationaleCardiomyocytes generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are suggested as the most promising candidate to replenish cardiomyocyte loss in regenerative medicine. Little is known about their calcium homeostasis, the key process underlying excitation-contraction coupling.ObjectiveWe investigated the calcium handling properties of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and compared with those from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).Methods and resultsWe differentiated cardiomyocytes from hiPSCs (IMR90 and KS1) and hESCs (H7 and HES3) with established protocols. Beating outgrowths from embryoid bodies were typically observed 2 weeks after induction. Cells in these outgrowths were stained positively for tropomyosin and sarcomeric alpha-actinin. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction studies demonstrated the expressions of cardiac-specific markers in both hiPSC- and hESC-derived cardiomyocytes. Calcium handling properties of 20-day-old hiPSC- and hESC-derived cardiomyocytes were investigated using fluorescence confocal microscopy. Compared with hESC-derived cardiomyocytes, spontaneous calcium transients from both lines of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes were of significantly smaller amplitude and with slower maximal upstroke velocity. Better caffeine-induced calcium handling kinetics in hESC-CMs indicates a higher sacroplasmic recticulum calcium store. Furthermore, in contrast with hESC-derived cardiomyocytes, ryanodine did not reduce the amplitudes, maximal upstroke and decay velocity of calcium transients of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. In addition, spatial inhomogeneity in temporal properties of calcium transients across the width of cardiomyocytes was more pronounced in hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes than their hESC counterpart as revealed line-scan calcium imaging. Expressions of the key calcium-handling proteins including ryanodine recptor-2 (RyR2), sacroplasmic recticulum calcium-ATPase (SERCA), junction (Jun) and triadin (TRDN), were significantly lower in hiPSC than in hESCs.ConclusionsThe results indicate the calcium handling properties of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes are relatively immature to hESC counterparts.

Dataset Information

Cellular Zinc Homeostasis Contributes to Neuronal Differentiation in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Publications

Cellular Zinc Homeostasis Contributes to Neuronal Differentiation in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

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