Project description:Single-cell RNA-seq: We used single-cell RNAseq to investigate the maturation of astrocytes within human cortical spheroids Bulk RNA-seq: Bulk sequencing from astrocytes and neurons purified (via immunopanning) from iPSC-derived coritical spheroids at varying in vitro differentiation states
Project description:Astrocytes interact closely with neurons and facilitate neuronal maturation and function by providing trophic support, regulating the extracellular environment, and engaging in a variety of inter-cellular signalling mechanisms. We have described the generation of human astrocytes and neurons from a common cortical progenitor pool, thereby recapitulating aspects of in vivo development. Firstly, we show that the iPSC-derived astrocytes exhibit many of the key molecular and functional hallmarks predicted of astrocytes. Secondly, we provide functional and transcriptomic analyses of the astrocytes’ capacity to interact with neurons both through rapid regulation of ongoing synaptic transmission as well as exerting pro-maturational effects on the synaptic networks. Transcriptional analysis included the comparison of the present RNA-seq of iPSC-derived astrocytes to other iPSC-derived astrocyte datasets as well as fetal and adult human astrocytes. We investigated differences in gene expression between our maturation-enhancing iPSC-astrocytes and iPSC-astrocytes previously shown to be unable to promote synaptic network maturation. By integrating transcriptomic data, functional genomic annotations and protein-protein interaction resources we support that astrocytic extracellular signalling is important for the ability of astrocytes to mediate functional neuronal maturation. This work provides a foundation for future investigations into astrocyte-neuron interactions in human health and disease.
Project description:We report changes in gene expression of iPSC-derived brain microvascular endothelial cells (iBMECs) within 3D tissue-engineered microvessels co-cultured with metastatic breast cancer spheroids and macrophages.
Project description:Human iPSC-derived liver organoids (LO) or hepatic spheroids (HS) have attracted widespread interest and the numerous studies on them have recently provided various production protocols. However, the mechanism by which the 3D structures of LO and HS are formed from the 2D-cultured cells and the mechanism of the LO and HS maturation remain largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that PDGFRA is specifically induced in the cells that are suitable for HS formation and that PDGF receptors and signaling are required for HS formation and maturation. Additionally, in vivo, we show that the localization of PDGFRα is in complete agreement with mouse E9.5 hepatoblasts which begin to form the 3D-structural liver bud from the single layer. Our results present that PDGFRA play important roles for 3D structure formation and maturation of hepatocyte in vitro and in vivo, and provide a clue to elucidate the hepatocyte differentiation mechanism.
Project description:Three-dimensional (3D) human brain spheroids are instrumental to study central nervous system (CNS) development and (dys)functioning. Yet, in current brain spheroid models the limited variety of cell types hampers an integrated exploration of CNS (disease) mechanisms. In this study, we developed a five-months culture protocol that reproducibly generates H9 embryonic stem cell-derived human cortical spheroids (hCSs) comprising not only neuroectoderm-derived neural progenitor populations, mature excitatory and inhibitory neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocyte (precursor) cells, but also mesoderm-derived microglia and endothelial cell populations. We then set out to explore the effects of stimulating our hCSs for three time periods with the cytokines TNFα and IL-1β. We use transcriptome-wide RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis to show that the major process induced by TNFα as well as by IL-1β is neuroinflammation. Central in this process are endothelial cells, microglia and astrocytes, and activation of the NFκB and STAT pathways. In addition to this equiva-lent impact of TNFα and IL-1β, we find that each of the two cytokines has specific and stimulation-time-dependent effects on hCS gene expression, and that IL-1β exhibits a faster self-inhibitory feedback response to dampen neuroinflammation than TNFα. Thus, our protocol provides an inducible 3D human brain cell model containing a wide variety of innately developing neuroectoderm- as well as mesoderm-derived cell types, furnishing a versatile platform for comprehensive examination of intercellular CNS communication and neurological disease mechanisms.
Project description:We derived iPSC from individuals with Timothy syndorme and controls and differentiated them into 3D cortical and subpalial organoids.