Global gene expression profile of human placental pericytes
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ABSTRACT: The objective of this array was to determine the global gene expression profile of human placental pericytes for comparison with other publicly available arrays of pericytes and mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from various human tissues. Pericytes are critical cellular components of the microvasculature that play a major role in vascular development and pathologies, yet their study has been hindered by lack of a standardized method for their isolation and growth. Here we report a method for culturing human pericytes from a readily available tissue source, placenta, and provide a thorough characterization of resultant cell populations. We developed an optimized protocol for obtaining pericytes by outgrowth from microvessel fragments recovered after enzymatic digestion of human placental tissue. We characterized outgrowth populations by immunostaining, by gene expression analysis, and by functional evaluation of cells implanted in vivo. Our approach yields human pericytes that may be serially expanded in culture and that uniformly express the cellular markers NG2, CD90, CD146, α-SMA, and PDGFR-β, but lack markers of smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and leukocytes. When co-implanted with human endothelial cells into C.B-17 SCID/bg mice, human pericytes invest and stabilize developing human endothelial cell-lined microvessels. We conclude that our method for culturing pericytes from human placenta results in the expansion of functional pericytes that may be used to study a variety of questions related to vascular biology. Total RNA from three different pericyte isolations at subculture 1 was collected and examined for relative gene expression.
Project description:The objective of this array was to determine the global gene expression profile of human placental pericytes for comparison with other publicly available arrays of pericytes and mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from various human tissues. Pericytes are critical cellular components of the microvasculature that play a major role in vascular development and pathologies, yet their study has been hindered by lack of a standardized method for their isolation and growth. Here we report a method for culturing human pericytes from a readily available tissue source, placenta, and provide a thorough characterization of resultant cell populations. We developed an optimized protocol for obtaining pericytes by outgrowth from microvessel fragments recovered after enzymatic digestion of human placental tissue. We characterized outgrowth populations by immunostaining, by gene expression analysis, and by functional evaluation of cells implanted in vivo. Our approach yields human pericytes that may be serially expanded in culture and that uniformly express the cellular markers NG2, CD90, CD146, α-SMA, and PDGFR-β, but lack markers of smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and leukocytes. When co-implanted with human endothelial cells into C.B-17 SCID/bg mice, human pericytes invest and stabilize developing human endothelial cell-lined microvessels. We conclude that our method for culturing pericytes from human placenta results in the expansion of functional pericytes that may be used to study a variety of questions related to vascular biology.
Project description:The placenta is considered one of the candidate cell sources in cellular therapeutics because of a large number of cells and heterogenous cell population with myogenic potentials. We first analyzed myogenic potential of cells obtained from six parts of the placenta, i.e., umbilical cord, amniotic epithelium, amniotic mesoderm, chorionic plate, villous chorion (chorion frondosum), , and decidua basalis. Implantation of placenta-derived cells into dystrophic muscles of immunodeficient mdx mice restored sarcolemmal expression of human dystrophin. Co-existence of human and murine nuclei in one myotube and presence of human dystrophin in murine myotube suggests that human dystrophin expression is due to cell fusion between host murine myocytes and implanted human cells. In vitro analysis revealed that cells derived from amniotic mesoderm, chorionic plate, ,and villous chorion efficiently transdifferentiate into myotubes. These cells fused to C2C12 murine myoblasts by in vitro co-culturing, and murine myoblasts start to express human dystrophin after fusion. These results demonstrate that placenta-derived cells, especially extraembryonic mesodermal cells, have a myogenic potential and regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle. Determination of cell specification with the gene chip analysis revealed that each placental cell has a distinct expression pattern. Keywords: Determination of cell specification
Project description:To understand the molecular mechanisms during the maturation of cord blood-derived endothelial cells into blood brain barrier capillary endothelial cells (BCECs), we have employed whole genome microarray expression profiling to identify genes responsible for the maturation process. Hematopoietic stem cells were isolated from cord-blood samples and differentiated into endothelial cells. The endothelial cells were further maturated into BCECs by co-culturing with blood-brain barrier (BBB) specific cells (pericytes) for 3 days and 6 days. The gene expression in human hematopoietic stem cell-derived endothelial cells was measured at 3 and 6 days after co-culture with pericytes. Three independent experiments were performed at each time (3 or 6 days). The RNA obtained from different experiments were pooled together for each group before microarray studies.
Project description:As susceptibility to many adult disorders originates in utero, we here hypothesized that fetal sex influences gene expression in placental cells and produces functional differences in human placentas. We found that fetal sex differentially affects gene expression in a cell-phenotype dependent manner among all four placental cell-phenotypes studied: cytotrophoblasts, syncytiotrophoblasts, arterial endothelial cells and venous endothelial cells. The markedly enriched pathways in males were identified to be signaling pathways for graft-versus-host disease as well as the immune and inflammatory systems, both supporting the hypothesis that there is reduced maternal-fetal compatibility for male fetuses. Our study is the first microarray study investigating sexual dimorphism in purified and characterized somatic cells from a single human tissue, the placenta, that underlines the importance of considering fetal sex as an independent variable in any work using human placenta. Arterial and venous endothelial cells were isolated from eight different placentas, four of each sex. A total of ten placentas were used for isolation of cytotrophoblasts and six for syncytiotrophoblasts, with equal numbers from each sex.
Project description:The placenta is considered one of the candidate cell sources in cellular therapeutics because of a large number of cells and heterogenous cell population with myogenic potentials. We first analyzed myogenic potential of cells obtained from six parts of the placenta, i.e., umbilical cord, amniotic epithelium, amniotic mesoderm, chorionic plate, villous chorion (chorion frondosum), , and decidua basalis. Implantation of placenta-derived cells into dystrophic muscles of immunodeficient mdx mice restored sarcolemmal expression of human dystrophin. Co-existence of human and murine nuclei in one myotube and presence of human dystrophin in murine myotube suggests that human dystrophin expression is due to cell fusion between host murine myocytes and implanted human cells. In vitro analysis revealed that cells derived from amniotic mesoderm, chorionic plate, ,and villous chorion efficiently transdifferentiate into myotubes. These cells fused to C2C12 murine myoblasts by in vitro co-culturing, and murine myoblasts start to express human dystrophin after fusion. These results demonstrate that placenta-derived cells, especially extraembryonic mesodermal cells, have a myogenic potential and regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle. Determination of cell specification with the gene chip analysis revealed that each placental cell has a distinct expression pattern. Experiment Overall Design: To isolate chorionic villi cells, we used the explant culture method, in which the cells were outgrown from pieces of chorionic villi attached to dishes. Chorionic villi cells were harvested with 0.25% trypsin and 1 mM EDTA, and overlaid onto the cultured fetal cardiomyocytes at 7 x 103/cm2. Every 2 days, the culture medium was replaced with fresh culture medium that was supplemented with 10% FBS and 1 ug/ml Amphotericin B (GIBCO). The morphology of the beating chorionic villi cells was evaluated under a fluorescent microscope.
Project description:The placental microvasculature of the human fetus is essential for the efficient transfer of gases, nutrients and waste between the mother and fetus. Microvascular hypoplasia of the terminal villi is associated with the placental pathology observed in cases of severe Intra Uterine Growth Restriction (IUGR). We used novel methods to isolate a pure population of placental microvascular endothelial cells from control preterm placentas (n=3) and placenta complicated by severe IUGR (n=6) with superimposed preeclampsia (n=5). Distal placental villous tissue was collected to enrich for terminal villi. Tissue was minced, digested and placental microvascular endothelial cells (PlMEC) were positively selected using tocosylated magnetic Dynabeads labeled with Human Endothelial Antigen lectin. The purity of the PlMEC (95%) was assessed by CD31 immunocytochemistry. RNA was extracted from the PlMEC samples and also from 3 term placenta and subjected to Affymetrix microarray analysis (U133Plus2 array chips). Data from the 3 term placentas and 3 preterm PlMEC arrays was used to generate an endothelial cell specific gene profile. This profile was used to identify the endothelial genes differentially regulated in all 6 IUGR cases. BTNL9 and NTRK2 transcripts were upregulated and SAA1, GNAS and SLAMF1 transcripts were downregulated as relative to the preterm controls. These changes were validated by Real time PCR in the PlMEC samples. This novel study is the first to identify endothelial candidate genes that may play a role in the villous hypoplasia of severe IUGR. This work advances our understanding of the molecular defects in placental microvascular endothelial cells in normal and pathologic pregnancies.
Project description:We hypothesized altered expression of proteases in cells capable of physiological invasion vs angiogenesis. We analyzed trophoblasts isolated from first trimester placenta that are invasive, and placental endothelial cells that gave a high angiogenic potential. We found different expression levels of most proteases. We found that the expression of proteases differs in cells performing invasion vs cells performing angiogenesis. Trophoblasts were isolated from first trimester placenta, endothelial cells were isolated from third trimester placenta. A pool of 5 preparations from different cell types was used for each microarray.
Project description:Expression profiling of Prdm1 mutant E9.5 placenta was performed using Illumina whole genome V2 arrays. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that Blimp1 regulates the transcription of key genes involved in trophoblast differentiation. We demonstrate that the invading SpA-TGCs display robust Blimp1 expression and Blimp1 functional loss selectively disrupts specification of this discrete TGC sub-type. Transcriptional profiling experiments identified additional SpA-TGC lineage restricted marker genes that potentially regulate placental morphogenesis. Prdm1BEH/+ (Vincent et al., 2005) animals were intercrossed to generate null placental tissue. Total RNA obtained from 10 Prdm1+/+ and 11 Prdm1-/- E9.5 placenta samples was hybridized to Illumina WG6_V2 beadchips.
Project description:As susceptibility to many adult disorders originates in utero, we here hypothesized that fetal sex influences gene expression in placental cells and produces functional differences in human placentas. We found that fetal sex differentially affects gene expression in a cell-phenotype dependent manner among all four placental cell-phenotypes studied: cytotrophoblasts, syncytiotrophoblasts, arterial endothelial cells and venous endothelial cells. The markedly enriched pathways in males were identified to be signaling pathways for graft-versus-host disease as well as the immune and inflammatory systems, both supporting the hypothesis that there is reduced maternal-fetal compatibility for male fetuses. Our study is the first microarray study investigating sexual dimorphism in purified and characterized somatic cells from a single human tissue, the placenta, that underlines the importance of considering fetal sex as an independent variable in any work using human placenta.
Project description:Vitrification is replacing slow freezing as the most popular method for human embryo cryopreservation in clinics world-wide. Several studies demonstrated that cryopreservation alters gene expression of mammalian embryos, but none of them analysed what happen with those embryos that get implanted and follow with the gestation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of vitrification technique on rabbit embryonic and fetal development by performing a transcriptomic analysis of 6 day old embryos and 14 days old fetal placentas. Effect of vitrification on late blastocyst and fetal placenta transcriptome. Four indepent replicates were performed for each condition (control and vitrified) and for both tissues (embryo and fetal placenta).