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Ip BC, Madnick SJ, Zheng S, van Tongeren TCA, Hall SJ, Li H, Martin S, Spriggs S, Carmichael P, Chen W, Ames D, Breitweiser LA, Pence HE, Bowling AJ, Johnson KJ, Cubberley R, Morgan JR, Boekelheide K. Development of a human liver microphysiological coculture system for higher throughput chemical safety assessment. Toxicol Sci 2024; 199:227-245. [PMID: 38335931 PMCID: PMC11131024 DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfae018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Chemicals in the systemic circulation can undergo hepatic xenobiotic metabolism, generate metabolites, and exhibit altered toxicity compared with their parent compounds. This article describes a 2-chamber liver-organ coculture model in a higher-throughput 96-well format for the determination of toxicity on target tissues in the presence of physiologically relevant human liver metabolism. This 2-chamber system is a hydrogel formed within each well consisting of a central well (target tissue) and an outer ring-shaped trough (human liver tissue). The target tissue chamber can be configured to accommodate a three-dimensional (3D) spheroid-shaped microtissue, or a 2-dimensional (2D) cell monolayer. Culture medium and compounds freely diffuse between the 2 chambers. Human-differentiated HepaRG liver cells are used to form the 3D human liver microtissues, which displayed robust protein expression of liver biomarkers (albumin, asialoglycoprotein receptor, Phase I cytochrome P450 [CYP3A4] enzyme, multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 transporter, and glycogen), and exhibited Phase I/II enzyme activities over the course of 17 days. Histological and ultrastructural analyses confirmed that the HepaRG microtissues presented a differentiated hepatocyte phenotype, including abundant mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and bile canaliculi. Liver microtissue zonation characteristics could be easily modulated by maturation in different media supplements. Furthermore, our proof-of-concept study demonstrated the efficacy of this coculture model in evaluating testosterone-mediated androgen receptor responses in the presence of human liver metabolism. This liver-organ coculture system provides a practical, higher-throughput testing platform for metabolism-dependent bioactivity assessment of drugs/chemicals to better recapitulate the biological effects and potential toxicity of human exposures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blanche C Ip
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
- Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
| | - Samantha J Madnick
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
- Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
| | - Sophia Zheng
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
| | - Tessa C A van Tongeren
- Division of Toxicology, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 EA Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Susan J Hall
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
| | - Hui Li
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
| | - Suzanne Martin
- Unilever, Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, MK44 1LQ Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Sandrine Spriggs
- Unilever, Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, MK44 1LQ Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Carmichael
- Unilever, Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, MK44 1LQ Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Wei Chen
- Corteva, Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268, USA
| | - David Ames
- Corteva, Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Richard Cubberley
- Unilever, Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, MK44 1LQ Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Jeffrey R Morgan
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
- Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
| | - Kim Boekelheide
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
- Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA
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Dwivedi I, Haddad GG. Investigating the neurobiology of maternal opioid use disorder and prenatal opioid exposure using brain organoid technology. Front Cell Neurosci 2024; 18:1403326. [PMID: 38812788 PMCID: PMC11133580 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2024.1403326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Over the past two decades, Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) among pregnant women has become a major global public health concern. OUD has been characterized as a problematic pattern of opioid use despite adverse physical, psychological, behavioral, and or social consequences. Due to the relapsing-remitting nature of this disorder, pregnant mothers are chronically exposed to exogenous opioids, resulting in adverse neurological and neuropsychiatric outcomes. Collateral fetal exposure to opioids also precipitates severe neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive sequelae. At present, much of what is known regarding the neurobiological consequences of OUD and prenatal opioid exposure (POE) has been derived from preclinical studies in animal models and postnatal or postmortem investigations in humans. However, species-specific differences in brain development, variations in subject age/health/background, and disparities in sample collection or storage have complicated the interpretation of findings produced by these explorations. The ethical or logistical inaccessibility of human fetal brain tissue has also limited direct examinations of prenatal drug effects. To circumvent these confounding factors, recent groups have begun employing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived brain organoid technology, which provides access to key aspects of cellular and molecular brain development, structure, and function in vitro. In this review, we endeavor to encapsulate the advancements in brain organoid culture that have enabled scientists to model and dissect the neural underpinnings and effects of OUD and POE. We hope not only to emphasize the utility of brain organoids for investigating these conditions, but also to highlight opportunities for further technical and conceptual progress. Although the application of brain organoids to this critical field of research is still in its nascent stages, understanding the neurobiology of OUD and POE via this modality will provide critical insights for improving maternal and fetal outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ila Dwivedi
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
| | - Gabriel G. Haddad
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
- Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
- Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA, United States
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Strong CE, Zhang J, Carrasco M, Kundu S, Boutin M, Vishwasrao HD, Liu J, Medina A, Chen YC, Wilson K, Lee EM, Ferrer M. Functional brain region-specific neural spheroids for modeling neurological diseases and therapeutics screening. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1211. [PMID: 38017066 PMCID: PMC10684574 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05582-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023] Open
Abstract
3D spheroids have emerged as powerful drug discovery tools given their high-throughput screening (HTS) compatibility. Here, we describe a method for generating functional neural spheroids by cell-aggregation of differentiated human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neurons and astrocytes at cell type compositions mimicking specific regions of the human brain. Recordings of intracellular calcium oscillations were used as functional assays, and the utility of this spheroids system was shown through disease modeling, drug testing, and formation of assembloids to model neurocircuitry. As a proof of concept, we generated spheroids incorporating neurons with Alzheimer's disease-associated alleles, as well as opioid use disorder modeling spheroids induced by chronic treatment of a mu-opioid receptor agonist. We reversed baseline functional deficits in each pilot disease model with clinically approved treatments and showed that assembloid activity can be chemogenetically manipulated. Here, we lay the groundwork for brain region-specific neural spheroids as a robust functional assay platform for HTS studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline E Strong
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Jiajing Zhang
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Martin Carrasco
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Srikanya Kundu
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Molly Boutin
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Harshad D Vishwasrao
- Advanced Imaging and Microscopy Resource, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Jiamin Liu
- Advanced Imaging and Microscopy Resource, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Angelica Medina
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Yu-Chi Chen
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Kelli Wilson
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Emily M Lee
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA.
| | - Marc Ferrer
- Division of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA.
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Imredy JP, Roussignol G, Clouse H, Salvagiotto G, Mazelin-Winum L. Comparative assessment of Ca 2+ oscillations in 2- and 3-dimensional hiPSC derived and isolated cortical neuronal networks. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 2023; 123:107281. [PMID: 37390871 DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2023.107281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
Human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (hiPSC) derived neural cells offer great potential for modelling neurological diseases and toxicities and have found application in drug discovery and toxicology. As part of the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI2) NeuroDeRisk (Neurotoxicity De-Risking in Preclinical Drug Discovery), we here explore the Ca2+ oscillation responses of 2D and 3D hiPSC derived neuronal networks of mixed Glutamatergic/GABAergic activity with a compound set encompassing both clinically as well as experimentally determined seizurogenic compounds. Both types of networks are scored against Ca2+ responses of a primary mouse cortical neuronal 2D network model serving as an established comparator assay. Parameters of frequency and amplitude of spontaneous global network Ca2+ oscillations and the drug-dependent directional changes to these were assessed, and predictivity of seizurogenicity scored using contingency table analysis. In addition, responses between models were compared between both 2D models as well as between 2D and 3D models. Concordance of parameter responses was best between the hiPSC neurospheroid and the mouse primary cortical neuron model (77% for frequency and 65% for amplitude). Decreases in spontaneous Ca2+ oscillation frequency and amplitude were found to be the most basic shared determinants of risk of seizurogenicity between the mouse and the neurospheroid model based on testing of clinical compounds with documented seizurogenic activity. Increases in spontaneous Ca2+ oscillation frequency were primarily observed with the 2D hIPSC model, though the specificity of this effect to seizurogenic clinical compounds was low (33%), while decreases to spike amplitude in this model were more predictive of seizurogenicity. Overall predictivities of the models were similar, with sensitivity of the assays typically exceeding specificity due to high false positive rates. Higher concordance of the hiPSC 3D model over the 2D model when compared to mouse cortical 2D responses may be the result of both a longer maturation time of the neurospheroid (84-87 days for 3D vs. 22-24 days for 2D maturation) as well as the 3-dimensional nature of network connections established. The simplicity and reproducibility of spontaneous Ca2+ oscillation readouts support further investigation of hiPSC derived neuronal sources and their 2- and 3-dimensional networks for neuropharmacological safety screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- John P Imredy
- In Vitro Safety Pharmacology, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.
| | | | - Holly Clouse
- In Vitro Safety Pharmacology, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA
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Sharlow ER, Llaneza DC, Grever WE, Mingledorff GA, Mendelson AJ, Bloom GS, Lazo JS. High content screening miniaturization and single cell imaging of mature human feeder layer-free iPSC-derived neurons. SLAS DISCOVERY : ADVANCING LIFE SCIENCES R & D 2023; 28:275-283. [PMID: 36273809 PMCID: PMC10119332 DOI: 10.1016/j.slasd.2022.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons are being increasingly used for high content imaging and screening. However, iPSC-derived neuronal differentiation and maturation is time-intensive, often requiring >8 weeks. Unfortunately, the differentiating and maturing iPSC-derived neuronal cultures also tend to migrate and coalesce into ganglion-like clusters making single-cell analysis challenging, especially in miniaturized formats. Using our defined extracellular matrix and low oxygen culturing conditions for the differentiation and maturation of human cortical neurons, we further modified neuronal progenitor cell seeding densities and feeder layer-free culturing conditions in miniaturized formats (i.e., 96 well) to decrease neuronal clustering, enhance single-cell identification and reduce edge effects usually observed after extended neuronal cell culture. Subsequent algorithm development refined capabilities to distinguish and identify single mature neurons, as identified by NeuN expression, from large cellular aggregates, which were excluded from image analysis. Incorporation of astrocyte conditioned medium during differentiation and maturation periods significantly increased the percentage (i.e., ∼10% to ∼30%) of mature neurons (i.e., NeuN+) detected at 4-weeks post-differentiation. Pilot, proof of concept studies using this optimized assay system yielded negligible edge effects and robust Z-factors in population-based as well as image-based neurotoxicity assay formats. Moreover, moxidectin, an FDA-approved drug with documented neurotoxic adverse effects, was identified as a hit using both screening formats. This miniaturized, feeder layer-free format and image analysis algorithm provides a foundational imaging and screening platform, which enables quantitative single-cell analysis of differentiated human neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth R Sharlow
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, 340 Jefferson Park Avenue, Pinn Hall, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 800735, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0735, USA.
| | - Danielle C Llaneza
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, 340 Jefferson Park Avenue, Pinn Hall, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 800735, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0735, USA
| | | | - Garnett A Mingledorff
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, 340 Jefferson Park Avenue, Pinn Hall, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 800735, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0735, USA
| | - Anna J Mendelson
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, 340 Jefferson Park Avenue, Pinn Hall, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 800735, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0735, USA
| | - George S Bloom
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, 420 Gilmer Hall, 485 McCormick Road, P.O. Box 400328, Charlottesville VA 22904, USA; Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia, 420 Gilmer Hall, 485 McCormick Road, P.O. Box 400328, Charlottesville VA 22904, USA; Department of Neuroscience, University of Virginia, 420 Gilmer Hall, 485 McCormick Road, P.O. Box 400328, Charlottesville VA 22904, USA
| | - John S Lazo
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, 340 Jefferson Park Avenue, Pinn Hall, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 800735, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0735, USA
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Lu HR, Seo M, Kreir M, Tanaka T, Yamoto R, Altrocchi C, van Ammel K, Tekle F, Pham L, Yao X, Teisman A, Gallacher DJ. High-Throughput Screening Assay for Detecting Drug-Induced Changes in Synchronized Neuronal Oscillations and Potential Seizure Risk Based on Ca 2+ Fluorescence Measurements in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (hiPSC)-Derived Neuronal 2D and 3D Cultures. Cells 2023; 12:cells12060958. [PMID: 36980298 PMCID: PMC10046961 DOI: 10.3390/cells12060958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Drug-induced seizure liability is a significant safety issue and the basis for attrition in drug development. Occurrence in late development results in increased costs, human risk, and delayed market availability of novel therapeutics. Therefore, there is an urgent need for biologically relevant, in vitro high-throughput screening assays (HTS) to predict potential risks for drug-induced seizure early in drug discovery. We investigated drug-induced changes in neural Ca2+ oscillations, using fluorescent dyes as a potential indicator of seizure risk, in hiPSC-derived neurons co-cultured with human primary astrocytes in both 2D and 3D forms. The dynamics of synchronized neuronal calcium oscillations were measured with an FDSS kinetics reader. Drug responses in synchronized Ca2+ oscillations were recorded in both 2D and 3D hiPSC-derived neuron/primary astrocyte co-cultures using positive controls (4-aminopyridine and kainic acid) and negative control (acetaminophen). Subsequently, blinded tests were carried out for 25 drugs with known clinical seizure incidence. Positive predictive value (accuracy) based on significant changes in the peak number of Ca2+ oscillations among 25 reference drugs was 91% in 2D vs. 45% in 3D hiPSC-neuron/primary astrocyte co-cultures. These data suggest that drugs that alter neuronal activity and may have potential risk for seizures can be identified with high accuracy using an HTS approach using the measurements of Ca2+ oscillations in hiPSC-derived neurons co-cultured with primary astrocytes in 2D.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua-Rong Lu
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Manabu Seo
- Elixirgen Scientific, Incorporated, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Mohamed Kreir
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Tetsuya Tanaka
- Elixirgen Scientific, Incorporated, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Rie Yamoto
- Healthcare Business Group, Drug Discovery Business Department, Ricoh Company Ltd., Tokyo 143-8555, Japan
| | - Cristina Altrocchi
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Karel van Ammel
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Fetene Tekle
- Statistics and Decision Sciences, Global Development, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Ly Pham
- Computational Biology & Toxicology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, San Diego, CA 921921, USA
| | - Xiang Yao
- Computational Biology & Toxicology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, San Diego, CA 921921, USA
| | - Ard Teisman
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - David J Gallacher
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety, Janssen R&D, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
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Mendez EF, Grimm SL, Stertz L, Gorski D, Movva SV, Najera K, Moriel K, Meyer TD, Fries GR, Coarfa C, Walss-Bass C. A human stem cell-derived neuronal model of morphine exposure reflects brain dysregulation in opioid use disorder: Transcriptomic and epigenetic characterization of postmortem-derived iPSC neurons. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1070556. [PMID: 36873219 PMCID: PMC9978009 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1070556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Human-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models of brain promise to advance our understanding of neurotoxic consequences of drug use. However, how well these models recapitulate the actual genomic landscape and cell function, as well as the drug-induced alterations, remains to be established. New in vitro models of drug exposure are needed to advance our understanding of how to protect or reverse molecular changes related to substance use disorders. Methods We engineered a novel induced pluripotent stem cell-derived model of neural progenitor cells and neurons from cultured postmortem human skin fibroblasts, and directly compared these to isogenic brain tissue from the donor source. We assessed the maturity of the cell models across differentiation from stem cells to neurons using RNA cell type and maturity deconvolution analyses as well as DNA methylation epigenetic clocks trained on adult and fetal human tissue. As proof-of-concept of this model's utility for substance use disorder studies, we compared morphine- and cocaine-treated neurons to gene expression signatures in postmortem Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) brains, respectively. Results Within each human subject (N = 2, 2 clones each), brain frontal cortex epigenetic age parallels that of skin fibroblasts and closely approximates the donor's chronological age; stem cell induction from fibroblast cells effectively sets the epigenetic clock to an embryonic age; and differentiation of stem cells to neural progenitor cells and then to neurons progressively matures the cells via DNA methylation and RNA gene expression readouts. In neurons derived from an individual who died of opioid overdose, morphine treatment induced alterations in gene expression similar to those previously observed in OUD ex-vivo brain tissue, including differential expression of the immediate early gene EGR1, which is known to be dysregulated by opioid use. Discussion In summary, we introduce an iPSC model generated from human postmortem fibroblasts that can be directly compared to corresponding isogenic brain tissue and can be used to model perturbagen exposure such as that seen in opioid use disorder. Future studies with this and other postmortem-derived brain cellular models, including cerebral organoids, can be an invaluable tool for understanding mechanisms of drug-induced brain alterations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily F. Mendez
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Sandra L. Grimm
- Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
- Center for Precision Environmental Health, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Laura Stertz
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Damian Gorski
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
- Mitchell Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Brain Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Sai V. Movva
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Katherine Najera
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Karla Moriel
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Thomas D. Meyer
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Gabriel R. Fries
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Cristian Coarfa
- Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
- Center for Precision Environmental Health, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Consuelo Walss-Bass
- Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
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