Activation of myenteric glia during acute inflammation in vitro
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ABSTRACT: Enteric glial cells (EGCs) are the main constituent of the enteric nervous system and share similarities with astrocytes from the central nervous system including their reactivity to an inflammator microenvironment. In this study we isolated GFAP-positive myenteric glia from FVB/hGFAP-eGFP transgenic postnatal day 7 mice. Following cell sorting for the eGFP reporter, GFAP-positive EGCs were cultured for 3 weeks to generate neurosphere-like bodies. This cell culture was stimulated with LPS for 48 h and cells were employed for gene expression profiling. LPS-stimulated cell cultures were compared to untreated control cell cultures. Enriched GFAP+ EGC cultures secreted increased levels of prominent inflammatory cytokines upon LPS stimulation. Further, in vitro cultures were compared to GFAP-eGFP-positive cells directly analyzed after cell sorting of small intestinal LMMP digests (in vivo) to assess alterations in transcriptomic profiles due to the in vitro culture.
Project description:Enteric glial cells (EGCs) are the main constituent of the enteric nervous system and share similarities with astrocytes from the central nervous system including their reactivity to an inflammator microenvironment. In this study we isolated GFAP-positive myenteric glia from FVB/hGFAP-eGFP transgenic postnatal day 7 mice. Following cell sorting for the eGFP reporter, GFAP-positive EGCs were cultured for 3 weeks to generate neurosphere-like bodies. This cell culture was stimulated with LPS for 48 h and cells were employed for gene expression profiling. LPS-stimulated cell cultures were compared to untreated control cell cultures. Enriched GFAP+ EGC cultures secreted increased levels of prominent inflammatory cytokines upon LPS stimulation. Further, in vitro cultures were compared to GFAP-eGFP-positive cells directly analyzed after cell sorting of small intestinal LMMP digests (in vivo) to assess alterations in transcriptomic profiles due to the in vitro culture. In vivo data and in vitro data were collected in three independent replicates. For each replicate one litter of FVB/hGFAP-eGFP transgenic mice at postnatal day 7 was employed. GFAP-eFP-positive small intestines were digested enzymatically and from the single cell suspensions eGFP-positive GFAP-expressing cells were sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. For the in vivo data the cells were directly sorted into lysis buffer and further processed . For the in vitro data GFAP-eGFP cells were seeded onto coated plastic dishes for adherent growth and cultured in DMEM/F12-medium supplemented with antibiotics, N2, B27, bFGF and EGF. In the first passage cells were divided into two uncoated six well dishes to promote spheroid growth. One well was supplemented with LPS (100 µg/ml, from E. coli O26:B6, Sigma Aldrich, potency 3 EU/ng) for 48 h, the corresponding second well was left untreated and used as respective control. After 48 h, cells were processed for total RNA isolation.
Project description:Enteric nervous system is involved in the regulation of intestinal inflammation. We developped mouse primary cultures of enteric nervous system to study impact of LPS, as pro-inflammatory mediator, and of the pro-drug 6-mercaptopurine on enteric inflammatory pathways We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying enteric neuro-inflammation and identified classes of up-regulated genes during this process.
Project description:This study investigates the phenomenon of postnatal plasticity within the enteric nervous system (ENS), specifically investigating the reinnervation potential of post-mitotic enteric neurons. Employing BAF53b-Cre for selective tracing, the reinnervation capabilities of postnatal enteric neurons in multiple model systems are shown. Denervated enteric neurons exhibit the ability to regenerate neurites in vitro, with neurite complexity and direction notably influenced by contact with enteric glial cells (EGCs). In vivo nerve fibers from transplanted enteric neurons exclusively interface with EGCs. Resident EGCs are sustained after Cre dependent ablation of enteric neurons and govern the architecture of the ENS by reinnervating enteric neurons. Transplantation experiments underscore the swift reintegration and reinnervation potential of post-mitotic neurons, leading to restored muscle function within two weeks. Optogenetic investigations further delineate time-dependent functional recovery via transplantation of isolated enteric ganglia. These revelations demonstrate the structural and functional reinnervation capacity of post-mitotic enteric neurons, underscored by EGC guidance.
Project description:Enteric glia cells (EGCs) are highly plastic and has been shown to give rise to neurons in adult gut upon injury to the enteric nervous system (ENS). To better characterise the dynamic molecular changes associated with EGC activation and its subsequent neurogenic differentation trajectory, we performed bulk RNAseq experiments from FACS sorted lineage-labelled cells (Sox10::CreERT2;R26-tdTomato) from adult small intestines (DIV0) and compared their transcriptomic profiles to cultured FACS sorted tdTomato+ cells from days in vitro (DIV) 4, 11 and 20, which were subjected to a protocol to support neurogenesis in culture.
Project description:To identify the gene expression profile of enteric glia and assess the transcriptional similarity between enteric and extraenteric glia, we performed RNA sequencing analysis on PLP1-expressing cells in the mouse intestine. This analysis shows that enteric glia are transcriptionally unique and distinct from other cell types in the nervous system. Enteric glia express many genes characteristic of the myelinating glia, Schwann cells and oli- godendrocytes, although there is no evidence of myelination in the murine ENS. Total RNA expression profiles of PLP1 expressing enteric glial cells (GFP+) and non-glial cells (GFP-negative) were obtained from the ileum and colon of juvenile PLP1-eGFP transgenic mice.
Project description:Purpose: Determine how blocking retinoic acid receptor (RAR) signaling within enteric neural crest-derived cells (ENCDC) from E11.5 stomach or E13.5 colon alters mRNA abundance. These ENCDC become the enteric nervous system. Methods: Enteric nervous system precursors were isolated from mouse E11.5 stomach or E13.5 colon using fluorescence activated cell sorting to purify TdTomato or EYFP expressing cells respectively from fetal bowel. The RarαDN allele encodes a potent RAR dominant negative protein that is expressed after CRE-mediated DNA recombination. Tamoxifen-activated CRE-ERT2 was expressed from the Ret locus for E13.5 colon studies and mice were tamoxifen treated at E10.5 prior to cell sorting. The Wnt1Cre allele was employed for E11.5 stomach studies. RNA-SEQ was performed in quadruplicate using Illumina HiSeq 4000. Sequence reads that passed quality filters were aligned to remove repeat sequences and ribosomal RNA reads and then processed using RNA-Seq unified mapper (RUM) package. RUM files were visualized in the TessLA browser for subsequent analyses. Results: Transcriptional profiling shows RarαDN differentially impacts gene expression in E11.5 stomach and E13.5 colon enteric neural crest-derived cells (ENCDC) that become the enteric nervous system. Conclusions: Blocking of RAR signaling in ENCDC causes dramatic changes in gene expression during early development in a stage-specific manner.
Project description:Mapttm1(EGFP)Klt/J mice (Mapt-EGFP; The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA; stock 004779) carry a knock-in of the EGFP coding sequence in the first exon of the microtubule-associated protein tau (Mapt) gene producing a cytoplasmic EGFP fused to the first 31 amino acids of MAPT. EGFP expression marks neurons including enteric neurons regardless of their lineage, closely patterning the expression of neuron-specific beta-tubulin III (TUBB3). Mapt-EGFP ice were backcrossed to C57BL/6J (Jackson Laboratory strain #:000664) for three to five generations at Mayo Clinic. Six male and six female Mapt-EGFP mice (54-98 days of age) underwent surgical laparotomy in 3 groups (surgery #1: 1 male and 1 female, surgery #2: 3 males and 1 female, surgery #3: 2 males and 4 females) under pentobarbital (50mg/kg) anesthesia. The celiac ganglion of each mouse was injected with 3-5 μL of 25 mg/mL Alexa Fluor 647-labeled cholera toxin subunit B (CTB-AF647; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) with the intention of labeling the cell soma of intestinofugal neurons in the myenteric plexus of the colon. The animals were killed 3-4 days after surgery. The muscularis externa of the colon from each Mapt-EGFP mouse was pooled together between all mice of the same surgery date (2, 4, and 6 mice) and mechanically and enzymatically dissociated into single cells with a two-step process that first enriches for cells within myenteric ganglia (PMCID: PMC8114175). The pooled cells from each group of mice formed one biological replicate and subjected to FACS immediately after dissociation to generate populations of Mapt-EGFP+ neurons with or without the CTB-AF647 tracer and Mapt-EGFP− non-neuronal cells. The frequency of Mapt-EGFP+CTB-AF647+ neurons was approximately 125-fold lower than that of Mapt-EGFP+CTB-AF647− neurons and RNA from these preparations did not pass quality control. Therefore, only data from Mapt-EGFP+CTB-AF647− neurons were analyzed and referred to as Mapt-EGFP+ cells. Total RNA was isolated from Mapt-EGFP+ colonic neurons and Mapt-EGFP− myenteric cells using RNA-Bee (AMSBIO, Cambridge, MA, USA) and purified with RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Germantown, MD, USA). RNA quality was tested using Agilent Electropherogram (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) and hybridized to Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430.2 gene expression microarrays (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). This study utilized Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430.2 oligonucleotide microarray analysis to charaterize the transcriptome of Mapt-EGFP+ neurons and Mapt-EGFP- non-neuronal myenteric cells isolated from the colon of Mapttm1(EGFP)Klt/J mice.
Project description:mCherry/EGFP double positive cells were isolated from the spinal cords of Tg(ctgfa:mCherry; gfap:EGFP) zebrafish at 5 days post injury. Bulk spinal cord tissue at 5, 10, and 21 days post-injury were also sequenced.
Project description:The crosstalk of glial cells and other components of the tumor microenvironment is a complex process, suggested to exacerbate tumor development. Here, we treated murine primary enteric glial cells (EGCs) with IL-1β, a cytokine that has been shown to be upregulated in many solid tumors. Mass spectrometry was performed to detect the factors secreted by glial cells. Diverse proteins were found differentially regulated upon IL-1β treatment.