Human telencephalic organoid development in the presence and absence of exogenous extracellular matrix
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ABSTRACT: Long-term culture of human telencephalic organoids cultured in the presence or absence of exogenous ECM. To evaluate how ECM supplementation influences organoid development, we supplied exogenous ECM in the form of Matrigel at the beginning of neuroepithelialisation (day 10, D10), either as a solid droplet that provides long-term exposure to a polymerized network of ECM proteins (droplet embedding - condition "drop" in the metadata table), or transiently dissolved in the culture medium (concentration of 2%V/V ) from D10 to D13 (liquid embedding - "liq"). These protocols were compared to one without exposure to exogenous ECM ("no"). Organoids were processed at 120 days of culture, when mature cortical tissue is present.
Project description:Matrigel, a mouse tumor extracellular matrix (ECM) protein mixture, is an indispensable component of most organoid tissue culture. However, it has limited the utility of organoids for drug development and regenerative medicine due to its tumor-derived origin, batch-to batch variation, high cost, and safety issues. Here, we demonstrate that gastrointestinal (GI) tissue-derived ECM hydrogels are a suitable substitute for Matrigel in GI organoid culture. We found that the development and function of GI organoids grown in GI ECM hydrogels are comparable or often superior to those in Matrigel. In addition, GI ECM hydrogels enabled long-term subculture and transplantation of GI organoids by providing GI tissue-mimetic microenvironments. Tissue-specific and age-related ECM profiles of GI ECM hydrogels that affect organoid development were also elucidated through proteomic analysis. Together, our results suggest that ECM hydrogels derived from decellularized GI tissues are an effective alternative to the current gold standard, Matrigel, and produce organoids suitable for GI disease modeling, drug development, and tissue regeneration.
Project description:Matrigel, a mouse tumor extracellular matrix (ECM) protein mixture, is an indispensable component of most organoid tissue culture. However, it has limited the utility of organoids for drug development and regenerative medicine due to its tumor-derived origin, batch-to22 batch variation, high cost, and safety issues. Here, we demonstrate that gastrointestinal (GI) tissue-derived ECM hydrogels are a suitable substitute for Matrigel in GI organoid culture. We found that the development and function of GI organoids grown in GI ECM hydrogels are comparable or often superior to those in Matrigel. In addition, GI ECM hydrogels enabled long-term subculture and transplantation of GI organoids by providing GI tissue-mimetic microenvironments. Tissue-specific and age-related ECM profiles of GI ECM hydrogels that affect organoid development were also elucidated through proteomic analysis. Together, our results suggest that ECM hydrogels derived from decellularized GI tissues are an effective alternative to the current gold standard, Matrigel, and produce organoids suitable for GI disease modeling, drug development, and tissue regeneration.
Project description:Organoid cultures offer a powerful technology to investigate many different aspects of development, physiology, and pathology of diverse tissues. Unlike standard tissue culture of primary breast epithelial cells, breast organoids preserve the epithelial lineages and architecture of the normal tissue. However, existing organoid culture methods are tedious, difficult to scale, and do not robustly retain estrogen receptor (ER) expression and responsiveness in long-term culture. Here, we describe a modified culture method to generate and maintain organoids as suspension cultures. This method improves organoid growth and uniformity over the traditional Matrigel dome embedding method while still maintaining the fidelity of the three major epithelial lineages. Using this adopted method, we are able to isolate and culture hormone sensing (HS) cells alone that retain ER responsiveness upon estrogen stimulation in long-term culture. This culture system presents a valuable opportunity to study the events involved in initiation and evolution of ER-positive breast cancer.
Project description:The specification of cell identity during human liver development is strictly controlled by extrinsic signals that restrict and define distinct cell fates. However, it is still not clear how cells, when exposed to exogenous signals, activate secretory cascades involving morphogens, growth factors and cytokines, extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and remodeling, which are extremely relevant especially in 3D self-organizing system such as hepatic organoids. Here, we investigated how the proteins secreted by human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in response to developmental exogenous signals affect the progression from endoderm to the hepatic lineage, including their competence to generate nascent hepatic organoids. By using a microfluidics-based approach coupled with SILAC-MS-based quantitative proteomic analysis we found high abundancy of ECM-associated proteins. Hepatocyte-like cells derived in microfluidics, where accumulation of cell-secreted proteins is enhanced up to 7-fold, showed organized deposition of COL1, FN, LAM and COL4, consistent with observations in human fetal liver at 8-15pcw. Further differentiation leads to a more mature hepatic transcriptomic signature and 1.5-fold higher ammonia detoxification capacity compared to conventional culture conditions. Hepatic committed cells in an early stage either derived in microfluidics and exposed to exogenous ECM stimuli show a significant higher potential for hepatic organoids formation. Nascent organoids can be rapidly expanded for several passages and further differentiated into functional hepatocytes. These results proved an additional control over the efficiency of hepatic organoid formation and differentiation for downstream applications.
Project description:We aimed to analyse the effect of different extra-cellular matrices on the growth of small intestinal organoids. Small intestinal crypts of wildtype mice were harvested and grown under standard Matrigel organoid conditions. After establishment of organoids (passaged 1-2), organoids were grown in Matrigel, on collagen or in a drop of collagen. Growth in a droplet of collagen requires addition of Wnt3a, therefore all samples are either provided with standard culture conditions (ENR) or with ENR+50%Wnt3a-CM (WENR). Samples were grown in specified matrix for at least 1-2 passages before RNA was purified.
Project description:Organoids have extensive therapeutic potential and are increasingly opening up new avenues within regenerative medicine. However, the clinical application is greatly limited by the lack of effective GMP-compliant systems for organoid expansion in culture. Here, we envisage that the use of extracellular matrix hydrogels derived from decellularized tissues (DT) can provide an environment capable of directing cell growth. These gels possess the biochemical signature of tissue-specific ECM, and have the potential for clinical translation. Gels from decellularized porcine small intestinal mucosa/submucosa enable formation and growth of endoderm-derived human organoids, such as gastric, liver, pancreas, and small intestine. ECM gels could be used for direct organoids derivation from human biopsies, multiple passages with transcriptomic signature comparable to gold standard culture system, and in vivo organoid delivery. The development of these ECM-derived hydrogels opens up the potential for human organoids to be used clinically.
Project description:Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive and therapy-resistant brain tumors prevalent in both adults and children. Despite extensive research to understand GBM pathology, it remains unclear how neural cells in the human brain interact with GBM cells to support their brain propagation and therapy resistance and whether GBM cells exert any influence on the properties of human neural cells. In this study, we co-culture human stem cell-derived subpallial telencephalic organoids with patient-derived proneural or mesenchymal GBM spheroids to investigate their reciprocal interactions. We show that both proneural and mesenchymal GBM spheroids readily fuse and propagate with human organoids, forming organoid-GBM chimeras, without the need for exogenous growth factors. GBM cells within the chimeras adapt by modulating gene expression profiles consistent with diminished proliferation, heightened hypoxia, increased angiogenesis, and proneural-to-mesenchymal transition in proneural GBM. Both proneural or mesenchymal GBMs also exert an impact on the properties of neural cells in the chimeras, leading to the suppression of neuronal genes and an upregulation expression of genes associated with hypoxia and angiogenesis. Collectively, this study identifies specific genes and molecular pathways that can be altered in GBM and neural cells by reciprocal interactions in a human developing brain-like environment for an increased understanding of GBM pathology and future therapy development.
Project description:Generation of three-dimensional (3D) organoids with optic cup like structures from pluripotent stem cells has created opportunities for investigating mammalian retinal development in vitro. However, retinal organoids in culture do not completely reflect the developmental state and in vivo architecture of the rod-dominant mouse retina. To assess rod photoreceptor differentiation in retinal organoids, we took advantage of Nrl-GFP mice that show rod-specific expression of GFP directed by the promoter of leucine zipper transcription factor NRL. Using embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs and iPSCs, respectively) derived from the Nrl-GFP mouse, we were successful in establishing long-term retinal organoid cultures (up to day 35) using modified culture conditions (called High Efficiency Hypoxia Induced Generation of Photoreceptors in Retinal Organoids, or HIPRO). We demonstrate efficient differentiation of pluripotent stem cells to retinal structures, with over 70% of embryoid bodies forming optic vesicles at Day (D)7, >50% producing optic cups by D10, and a majority of these surviving until at least D35. The HIPRO organoids include distinct inner retina neurons in somewhat stratified architecture and mature Müller glia spanning the entire retina. Almost 70% of the cells in retinal organoids are rod photoreceptors that exhibit elongated cilia. Transcriptome profiles of GFP+ rod photoreceptors, purified from organoids at Day 25-35, demonstrate a high correlation to gene profiles of purified rods from mouse retina at postnatal day (P) 2 to 6, indicating their early state of differentiation. Our 3D retinal organoids thus closely mimic in vivo retinogenesis and provide an efficient in vitro model to investigate photoreceptor development and modeling disease pathology.
Project description:As metabolic rewiring is crucial for cancer cell proliferation, metabolic phenotyping of patient-derived organoids is desirable to identify drug-induced changes and trace metabolic vulnerabilities of tumor subtypes. We established a novel protocol for metabolomic and lipidomic profiling of colorectal cancer organoids by LC-QTOF-MS facing the challenge of capturing metabolic information from minimal sample amount (< 500 cells/injection) in the presence of extracellular matrix (ECM). The best procedure of the tested protocols included ultrasonic metabolite extraction with acetonitrile/methanol/water (2:2:1, v/v/v) without ECM removal. To eliminate ECM-derived background signals, we implemented a data filtering procedure based on p-value and fold change cut-offs which retained features with signal intensities >120% compared to matrix-derived signals present in blank samples. As a proof-of-concept, the method was applied to examine the early metabolic response of colorectal cancer organoids to 5-fluorouracil treatment. Statistical analysis revealed dose-dependent changes in the metabolic profiles of treated organoids including elevated levels of 2'-deoxyuridine, 2'-O-methylcytidin, inosine and 1-methyladenosine and depletion of 2'-deoxyadenosine and specific phospholipids. In accordance with the mechanism of action of 5-fluorouracil, changed metabolites are mainly involved in purine and pyrimidine metabolism. The novel protocol provides a first basis for the assessment of metabolic drug response phenotypes in 3D organoid models.
Project description:We previously established long-term 3D organoid culture systems for several murine tissues (intestine, stomach, pancreas and liver) as well as human intestine and pancreas. Here, we describe culture conditions to generate long-term 3D culture from human gastric stem cells. The technology can be applied to study the epithelial response to infection with Helicobacter pylori. Human gastric cultures can expand indefinitely in 3D Matrigel. Cultures can be generated from normal tissue, from single sorted stem cells, or from tumor tissue. Organoids maintain many characteristics of the respective tissue in terms of histology, marker expression and euploidy. Organoids from normal tissue express markers of four lineages of the stomach and self-organize in gland and pit-domains. They can be directed to specifically express either lineages of the gastric gland, or the gastric pit by addition of Nicotinamide and withdrawal of Wnt. While gastric pit lineages react marginally to bacterial infection, gastric gland lineages mount a strong inflammatory response. The gastric culture system provides a unique tool to study gastric pathologies. We generated 2 sets of experiments. The first set contains organoids in 4 conditions: (1) organoids in expansion condition ENRWFGNiTi ("gland-type organoids") from 3 donors, (2) organoids as in 1 but differentiated for 4 days in differentiation condition ENR_FGNiTi ("pit'type organoids"), (3) organoids as in 1 but infected with Helicobacter pylori strain P12 MOI 50 for 2 h, (4) organoids as in 2 but infected as in 3. All 4 conditions were tested on the same organoid line in parallel. This experiment was conducted independently with cultures from 3 different donors. The second set of experiments compares freshly isolated glands with organoids. Samples from 2 patients were analyzed. Each patient received a total gastrectomy. From each patient, glands from corpus region or pyloric antrum were isolated. From each isolation, one aliquod was stored for microarray analysis and one aliquod used to generate organoids. Organoids and glands were subsequently lysed and analyzed in parallel.