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Lickiss B, Hunker J, Bhagwan J, Linder P, Thomas U, Lotay H, Broadbent S, Dragicevic E, Stoelzle-Feix S, Turner J, Gossmann M. Chamber-specific contractile responses of atrial and ventricular hiPSC-cardiomyocytes to GPCR and ion channel targeting compounds: A microphysiological system for cardiac drug development. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 2024; 128:107529. [PMID: 38857637 DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2024.107529] [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: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) have found utility for conducting in vitro drug screening and disease modelling to gain crucial insights into pharmacology or disease phenotype. However, diseases such as atrial fibrillation, affecting >33 M people worldwide, demonstrate the need for cardiac subtype-specific cells. Here, we sought to investigate the base characteristics and pharmacological differences between commercially available chamber-specific atrial or ventricular hiPSC-CMs seeded onto ultra-thin, flexible PDMS membranes to simultaneously measure contractility in a 96 multi-well format. We investigated the effects of GPCR agonists (acetylcholine and carbachol), a Ca2+ channel agonist (S-Bay K8644), an HCN channel antagonist (ivabradine) and K+ channel antagonists (4-AP and vernakalant). We observed differential effects between atrial and ventricular hiPSC-CMs on contractile properties including beat rate, beat duration, contractile force and evidence of arrhythmias at a range of concentrations. As an excerpt of the compound analysis, S-Bay K8644 treatment showed an induced concentration-dependent transient increase in beat duration of atrial hiPSC-CMs, whereas ventricular cells showed a physiological increase in beat rate over time. Carbachol treatment produced marked effects on atrial cells, such as increased beat duration alongside a decrease in beat rate over time, but only minimal effects on ventricular cardiomyocytes. In the context of this chamber-specific pharmacology, we not only add to contractile characterization of hiPSC-CMs but propose a multi-well platform for medium-throughput early compound screening. Overall, these insights illustrate the key pharmacological differences between chamber-specific cardiomyocytes and their application on a multi-well contractility platform to gain insights for in vitro cardiac liability studies and disease modelling.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jan Hunker
- innoVitro GmbH, Artilleriestr 2, 52428 Jülich, Germany
| | - Jamie Bhagwan
- Axol Bioscience Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK
| | - Peter Linder
- innoVitro GmbH, Artilleriestr 2, 52428 Jülich, Germany
| | - Ulrich Thomas
- Nanion Technologies GmbH, Ganghoferstr 70A, 80339 Munich, Germany
| | - Hardeep Lotay
- Axol Bioscience Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK
| | - Steven Broadbent
- Axol Bioscience Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK
| | - Elena Dragicevic
- Nanion Technologies GmbH, Ganghoferstr 70A, 80339 Munich, Germany
| | | | - Jan Turner
- Axol Bioscience Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK
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2
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Pierson JB, Berridge B, Blinova K, Brooks MB, Eldridge S, O'Brien CE, Pugsley MK, Schultze AE, Smith G, Stockbridge N, Valentin JP, Vicente J. Collaborative science in action: A 20 year perspective from the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) Cardiac Safety Committee. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 2024; 127:107511. [PMID: 38710237 DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2024.107511] [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: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
The Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to resolving global health challenges through collaborative scientific efforts across academia, regulatory authorities and the private sector. Collaborative science across non-clinical disciplines offers an important keystone to accelerate the development of safer and more effective medicines. HESI works to address complex challenges by leveraging diverse subject-matter expertise across sectors offering access to resources, data and shared knowledge. In 2008, the HESI Cardiac Safety Committee (CSC) was established to improve public health by reducing unanticipated cardiovascular (CV)-related adverse effects from pharmaceuticals or chemicals. The committee continues to significantly impact the field of CV safety by bringing together experts from across sectors to address challenges of detecting and predicting adverse cardiac outcomes. Committee members have collaborated on the organization, management and publication of prospective studies, retrospective analyses, workshops, and symposia resulting in 38 peer reviewed manuscripts. Without this collaboration these manuscripts would not have been published. Through their work, the CSC is actively addressing challenges and opportunities in detecting potential cardiac failure modes using in vivo, in vitro and in silico models, with the aim of facilitating drug development and improving study design. By examining past successes and future prospects of the CSC, this manuscript sheds light on how the consortium's multifaceted approach not only addresses current challenges in detecting potential cardiac failure modes but also paves the way for enhanced drug development and study design methodologies. Further, exploring future opportunities and challenges will focus on improving the translational predictability of nonclinical evaluations and reducing reliance on animal research in CV safety assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Marjory B Brooks
- Comparative Coagulation Section, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Sandy Eldridge
- Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Claire E O'Brien
- Health and Environmental Sciences Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
| | - Michael K Pugsley
- Toxicology & Safety Pharmacology, Cytokinetics, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - A Eric Schultze
- Pathology, Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Godfrey Smith
- Clyde Biosciences Ltd, Newhouse, UK; University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
| | | | - Jean-Pierre Valentin
- UCB Biopharma SRL, Development Science, Non-Clinical Safety Evaluation, Braine l'Alleud, Belgium
| | - Jose Vicente
- Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA
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3
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Seibertz F, Voigt N. High-throughput methods for cardiac cellular electrophysiology studies: the road to personalized medicine. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2024; 326:H938-H949. [PMID: 38276947 DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00599.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Personalized medicine refers to the tailored application of medical treatment at an individual level, considering the specific genotype or phenotype of each patient for targeted therapy. In the context of cardiovascular diseases, implementing personalized medicine is challenging due to the high costs involved and the slow pace of identifying the pathogenicity of genetic variants, deciphering molecular mechanisms of disease, and testing treatment approaches. Scalable cellular models such as human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) serve as useful in vitro tools that reflect individual patient genetics and retain clinical phenotypes. High-throughput functional assessment of these constructs is necessary to rapidly assess cardiac pathogenicity and test new therapeutics if personalized medicine is to become a reality. High-throughput photometry recordings of single cells coupled with potentiometric probes offer cost-effective alternatives to traditional patch-clamp assessments of cardiomyocyte action potential characteristics. Importantly, automated patch-clamp (APC) is rapidly emerging in the pharmaceutical industry and academia as a powerful method to assess individual membrane-bound ionic currents and ion channel biophysics over multiple cells in parallel. Now amenable to primary cell and hiPSC-CM measurement, APC represents an exciting leap forward in the characterization of a multitude of molecular mechanisms that underlie clinical cardiac phenotypes. This review provides a summary of state-of-the-art high-throughput electrophysiological techniques to assess cardiac electrophysiology and an overview of recent works that successfully integrate these methods into basic science research that could potentially facilitate future implementation of personalized medicine at a clinical level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fitzwilliam Seibertz
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells," Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Nanion Technologies, GmbH, Munich, Germany
| | - Niels Voigt
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells," Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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4
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Li Z, Niu K, Zhou C, Wang F, Lu K, Liu Y, Xuan L, Wang X. Multifunctional cardiac microphysiological system based on transparent ITO electrodes for simultaneous optical measurement and electrical signal monitoring. LAB ON A CHIP 2024; 24:1903-1917. [PMID: 38385159 DOI: 10.1039/d3lc00908d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Drug-induced cardiotoxicity is a significant contributor to drug recalls, primarily attributed to limitations in existing drug screening platforms. Traditional heart-on-a-chip platforms often employ metallic electrodes to record cardiomyocyte electrical signals. However, this approach hinders direct cardiomyocyte morphology observation and typically yields limited functionality. Consequently, this limitation may lead to an incomplete understanding of cardiomyocyte characteristics. To address these challenges, we introduce a multifunctional cardiac microphysiological system featuring transparent indium tin oxide electrodes. This innovative design aims to overcome the limitations of conventional heart-on-a-chip systems where metal electrodes interfere with the observation of cells and increase the difficulty of subsequent image processing of cell images. In addition to facilitating optical measurement combined with image processing capabilities, this system integrates a range of electrodes with diverse functionalities. These electrodes can realize cellular electrical stimulation, field potential monitoring, and impedance change tracking, enabling a comprehensive investigation of various cardiomyocyte traits. To demonstrate its versatility, we investigate the effects of four cardiac drugs with distinct pharmacological profiles on cardiomyocytes using this system. This platform provides a means for quantitatively and predictively assessing cardiac toxicity, which could be applied to conduct a comprehensive evaluation during the drug discovery process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhangjie Li
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Kai Niu
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Chenyang Zhou
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Feifan Wang
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Kangyi Lu
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Yijun Liu
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Lian Xuan
- Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Xiaolin Wang
- Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
- National Key Laboratory of Advanced Micro and Nano Manufacture Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
- National Center for Translational Medicine (Shanghai) SHU Branch, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China
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5
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Fortin MC, LaCroix AS, Grammatopoulos TN, Tan L, Wang Q, Manca D. Lower cardiotoxicity of CPX-351 relative to daunorubicin plus cytarabine free-drug combination in hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in vitro. Sci Rep 2023; 13:21054. [PMID: 38030645 PMCID: PMC10686991 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47293-4] [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: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Liposomal formulations are hypothesized to alleviate anthracycline cardiotoxicity, although this has only been documented clinically for doxorubicin. We developed an in vitro multiparametric model using human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) to assess the relative toxicity of anthracyclines across formulations. Proof of concept was established by treating hiPSC-CM with equivalent concentrations of free and liposomal doxorubicin. The study was then repeated with free daunorubicin plus cytarabine and CPX-351, a dual-drug liposomal encapsulation of daunorubicin/cytarabine. hiPSC-CM were treated with free-drug or liposomal formulations for 24 h on Days 1, 3, and 5 at equivalent concentrations ranging from 0 to 1000 ng/mL and assessed on subsequent days. Free-drug treatment resulted in concentration-dependent cumulative cytotoxicity (microscopy), more profound decrease in ATP levels, and significant time- and concentration-dependent decreases in oxygen consumption versus liposomal formulations (p < 0.01). Repeated free-drug exposure also resulted in greater release of biomarkers (cardiac troponin I, FABP3) and lactate dehydrogenase, as well as in a biphasic rhythmicity response (initial increase followed by slowing/quiescence of beating) indicating significant injury, which was not observed after repeated exposure to liposomal formulations. Overall, liposomal formulations were considerably less toxic to hiPSC-CM than their free-drug counterparts. Clinical data will be needed to confirm findings for CPX-351.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie C Fortin
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals, 2005 Market Street, 21St Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA.
| | | | | | - Lei Tan
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals, 2005 Market Street, 21St Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA
| | - Qi Wang
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals, 2005 Market Street, 21St Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA
| | - Dino Manca
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals, 2005 Market Street, 21St Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA
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Liu W, Han JL, Tomek J, Bub G, Entcheva E. Simultaneous Widefield Voltage and Dye-Free Optical Mapping Quantifies Electromechanical Waves in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. ACS PHOTONICS 2023; 10:1070-1083. [PMID: 37096210 PMCID: PMC10119986 DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.2c01644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Coupled electromechanical waves define a heart's function in health and diseases. Optical mapping of electrical waves using fluorescent labels offers mechanistic insights into cardiac conduction abnormalities. Dye-free/label-free mapping of mechanical waves presents an attractive non-invasive alternative. In this study, we developed a simultaneous widefield voltage and interferometric dye-free optical imaging methodology that was used as follows: (1) to validate dye-free optical mapping for quantification of cardiac wave properties in human iPSC-cardiomyocytes (CMs); (2) to demonstrate low-cost optical mapping of electromechanical waves in hiPSC-CMs using recent near-infrared (NIR) voltage sensors and orders of magnitude cheaper miniature industrial CMOS cameras; (3) to uncover previously underexplored frequency- and space-varying parameters of cardiac electromechanical waves in hiPSC-CMs. We find similarity in the frequency-dependent responses of electrical (NIR fluorescence-imaged) and mechanical (dye-free-imaged) waves, with the latter being more sensitive to faster rates and showing steeper restitution and earlier appearance of wavefront tortuosity. During regular pacing, the dye-free-imaged conduction velocity and electrical wave velocity are correlated; both modalities are sensitive to pharmacological uncoupling and dependent on gap-junctional protein (connexins) determinants of wave propagation. We uncover the strong frequency dependence of the electromechanical delay (EMD) locally and globally in hiPSC-CMs on a rigid substrate. The presented framework and results offer new means to track the functional responses of hiPSC-CMs inexpensively and non-invasively for counteracting heart disease and aiding cardiotoxicity testing and drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Liu
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, George Washington
University, Washington, D.C. 20052, United States
| | - Julie L. Han
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, George Washington
University, Washington, D.C. 20052, United States
| | - Jakub Tomek
- Department
of Pharmacology, University of California−Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Gil Bub
- Department
of Physiology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3G 1Y6, Canada
| | - Emilia Entcheva
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, George Washington
University, Washington, D.C. 20052, United States
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7
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Van de Sande D, Ghasemi M, Watters T, Burton F, Pham L, Altrocchi C, Gallacher DJ, Lu H, Smith G. Does Enhanced Structural Maturity of hiPSC-Cardiomyocytes Better for the Detection of Drug-Induced Cardiotoxicity? Biomolecules 2023; 13:676. [PMID: 37189424 PMCID: PMC10135569 DOI: 10.3390/biom13040676] [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: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are currently used following the Comprehensive in vitro Proarrhythmic Assay (CiPA) initiative and subsequent recommendations in the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) guidelines S7B and E14 Q&A, to detect drug-induced cardiotoxicity. Monocultures of hiPSC-CMs are immature compared to adult ventricular cardiomyocytes and might lack the native heterogeneous nature. We investigated whether hiPSC-CMs, treated to enhance structural maturity, are superior in detecting drug-induced changes in electrophysiology and contraction. This was achieved by comparing hiPSC-CMs cultured in 2D monolayers on the current standard (fibronectin matrix, FM), to monolayers on a coating known to promote structural maturity (CELLvo™ Matrix Plus, MM). Functional assessment of electrophysiology and contractility was made using a high-throughput screening approach involving the use of both voltage-sensitive fluorescent dyes for electrophysiology and video technology for contractility. Using 11 reference drugs, the response of the monolayer of hiPSC-CMs was comparable in the two experimental settings (FM and MM). The data showed no functionally relevant differences in electrophysiology between hiPSC-CMs in standard FM and MM, while contractility read-outs indicated an altered amplitude of contraction but not changes in time course. RNA profiling for cardiac proteins shows similarity of the RNA expression across the two forms of 2D culture, suggesting that cell-to-matrix adhesion differences may explain account for differences in contraction amplitude. The results support the view that hiPSC-CMs in both 2D monolayer FM and MM that promote structural maturity are equally effective in detecting drug-induced electrophysiological effects in functional safety studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dieter Van de Sande
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Nonclinical Safety, Janssen Pharmaceutical NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Mohammadreza Ghasemi
- School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 126 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
- Clyde Biosciences Limited, BioCity Scotland, Lanarkshire ML1 5UH, Scotland, UK
| | - Taylor Watters
- School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 126 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
- Clyde Biosciences Limited, BioCity Scotland, Lanarkshire ML1 5UH, Scotland, UK
| | - Francis Burton
- School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 126 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
- Clyde Biosciences Limited, BioCity Scotland, Lanarkshire ML1 5UH, Scotland, UK
| | - Ly Pham
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Nonclinical Safety, Janssen Pharmaceutical NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Cristina Altrocchi
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Nonclinical Safety, Janssen Pharmaceutical NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - David J. Gallacher
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Nonclinical Safety, Janssen Pharmaceutical NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Huarong Lu
- Global Safety Pharmacology, Nonclinical Safety, Janssen Pharmaceutical NV, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Godfrey Smith
- School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 126 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
- Clyde Biosciences Limited, BioCity Scotland, Lanarkshire ML1 5UH, Scotland, UK
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8
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Pan Z, Liang P. Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Differentiation of Cardiomyocyte Subtypes for Drug Discovery and Cell Therapy. Handb Exp Pharmacol 2023; 281:209-233. [PMID: 37421443 DOI: 10.1007/164_2023_663] [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] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
Drug attrition rates have increased over the past few years, accompanied with growing costs for the pharmaceutical industry and consumers. Lack of in vitro models connecting the results of toxicity screening assays with clinical outcomes accounts for this high attrition rate. The emergence of cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells provides an amenable source of cells for disease modeling, drug discovery, and cardiotoxicity screening. Functionally similar to to embryonic stem cells, but with fewer ethical concerns, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can recapitulate patient-specific genetic backgrounds, which would be a huge revolution for personalized medicine. The generated iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) represent different subtypes including ventricular-, atrial-, and nodal-like cardiomyocytes. Purifying these subtypes for chamber-specific drug screening presents opportunities and challenges. In this chapter, we discuss the strategies for the purification of iPSC-CMs, the use of iPSC-CMs for drug discovery and cardiotoxicity test, and the current limitations of iPSC-CMs that should be overcome for wider and more precise cardiovascular applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziwei Pan
- Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Ministry of Public Health, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ping Liang
- Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Ministry of Public Health, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
- Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
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9
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High-content analysis and Kinetic Image Cytometry identify toxicity and epigenetic effects of HIV antiretrovirals on human iPSC-neurons and primary neural precursor cells. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 2022; 114:107157. [PMID: 35143957 PMCID: PMC9103414 DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2022.107157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Despite viral suppression due to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) continue to affect half of people with HIV, suggesting that certain antiretrovirals (ARVs) may contribute to HAND. METHODS We examined the effects of nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and emtricitabine (FTC) and the integrase inhibitors dolutegravir (DTG) and elvitegravir (EVG) on viability, structure, and function of glutamatergic neurons (a subtype of CNS neuron involved in cognition) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-neurons), and primary human neural precursor cells (hNPCs), which are responsible for neurogenesis. RESULTS Using automated digital microscopy and image analysis (high content analysis, HCA), we found that DTG, EVG, and TDF decreased hiPSC-neuron viability, neurites, and synapses after 7 days of treatment. Analysis of hiPSC-neuron calcium activity using Kinetic Image Cytometry (KIC) demonstrated that DTG and EVG also decreased the frequency and magnitude of intracellular calcium transients. Longer ARV exposures and simultaneous exposure to multiple ARVs increased the magnitude of these neurotoxic effects. Using the Microscopic Imaging of Epigenetic Landscapes (MIEL) assay, we found that TDF decreased hNPC viability and changed the distribution of histone modifications that regulate chromatin packing, suggesting that TDF may reduce neuroprogenitor pools important for CNS development and maintenance of cognition in adults. CONCLUSION This study establishes human preclinical assays that can screen potential ARVs for CNS toxicity to develop safer cART regimens and HAND therapeutics.
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10
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Kilfoil P, Feng SL, Bassyouni A, Lee T, Leishman D, Li D, MacEwan DJ, Sharma P, Watt ED, Jenkinson S. Characterization of a high throughput human stem cell cardiomyocyte assay to predict drug-induced changes in clinical electrocardiogram parameters. Eur J Pharmacol 2021; 912:174584. [PMID: 34678241 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2021.174584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hIPSC-CM's) play an increasingly important role in the safety profiling of candidate drugs. For such models to have utility a clear understanding of clinical translation is required. In the present study we examined the ability of our hIPSC-CM model to predict the clinically observed effects of a diverse set of compounds on several electrocardiogram endpoints, including changes in QT and QRS intervals. To achieve this, compounds were profiled in a novel high throughput voltage-sensitive dye platform. Measurements were taken acutely (30 min) and chronically (24 h) to ensure that responses from compounds with slow onset kinetics or that affected surface ion channel expression would be captured. In addition, to avoid issues associated with changes in free drug levels due to protein binding, assays were run in serum free conditions. Changes in hIPSC-CM threshold APD90 values correlated with compound plasma exposures that produced a +10 ms change in clinical QTc (Pearson r2 = 0.80). In addition, randomForest modeling showed high predictivity in defining TdP risk (AUROC value = 0.938). Risk associated with QRS prolongation correlated with an increase in action potential rise-time (AUROC value = 0.982). The in-depth understanding of the clinical translatability of our hIPSC-CM model positions this assay to play a key role in defining cardiac risk early in drug development. Moreover, the ability to perform longer term studies enables the detection of compounds that may not be highlighted by more acute assay formats, such as inhibitors of hERG trafficking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Kilfoil
- Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer Inc., La Jolla, CA, 92121, USA
| | - Shuyun Lily Feng
- Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer Inc., La Jolla, CA, 92121, USA
| | - Asser Bassyouni
- Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer Inc., La Jolla, CA, 92121, USA
| | - Tiffany Lee
- Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer Inc., La Jolla, CA, 92121, USA
| | - Derek Leishman
- Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, 46285, USA
| | | | - David J MacEwan
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
| | - Parveen Sharma
- Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, University of Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
| | | | - Stephen Jenkinson
- Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer Inc., La Jolla, CA, 92121, USA.
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11
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Müllenbroich MC, Kelly A, Acker C, Bub G, Bruegmann T, Di Bona A, Entcheva E, Ferrantini C, Kohl P, Lehnart SE, Mongillo M, Parmeggiani C, Richter C, Sasse P, Zaglia T, Sacconi L, Smith GL. Novel Optics-Based Approaches for Cardiac Electrophysiology: A Review. Front Physiol 2021; 12:769586. [PMID: 34867476 PMCID: PMC8637189 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.769586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Optical techniques for recording and manipulating cellular electrophysiology have advanced rapidly in just a few decades. These developments allow for the analysis of cardiac cellular dynamics at multiple scales while largely overcoming the drawbacks associated with the use of electrodes. The recent advent of optogenetics opens up new possibilities for regional and tissue-level electrophysiological control and hold promise for future novel clinical applications. This article, which emerged from the international NOTICE workshop in 2018, reviews the state-of-the-art optical techniques used for cardiac electrophysiological research and the underlying biophysics. The design and performance of optical reporters and optogenetic actuators are reviewed along with limitations of current probes. The physics of light interaction with cardiac tissue is detailed and associated challenges with the use of optical sensors and actuators are presented. Case studies include the use of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and super-resolution microscopy to explore the micro-structure of cardiac cells and a review of two photon and light sheet technologies applied to cardiac tissue. The emergence of cardiac optogenetics is reviewed and the current work exploring the potential clinical use of optogenetics is also described. Approaches which combine optogenetic manipulation and optical voltage measurement are discussed, in terms of platforms that allow real-time manipulation of whole heart electrophysiology in open and closed-loop systems to study optimal ways to terminate spiral arrhythmias. The design and operation of optics-based approaches that allow high-throughput cardiac electrophysiological assays is presented. Finally, emerging techniques of photo-acoustic imaging and stress sensors are described along with strategies for future development and establishment of these techniques in mainstream electrophysiological research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Allen Kelly
- Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Corey Acker
- Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, UConn Health, Farmington, CT, United States
| | - Gil Bub
- Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Tobias Bruegmann
- Institute for Cardiovascular Physiology, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Anna Di Bona
- Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Emilia Entcheva
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States
| | | | - Peter Kohl
- Institute for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine, University Heart Center and Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Stephan E. Lehnart
- Heart Research Center Göttingen, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Cardiology and Pneumology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence “Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells” (MBExC), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Marco Mongillo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Claudia Richter
- German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Philipp Sasse
- Institute of Physiology I, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Tania Zaglia
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy
| | - Leonardo Sacconi
- European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
- Institute for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine, University Heart Center and Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- National Institute of Optics, National Research Council, Florence, Italy
| | - Godfrey L. Smith
- Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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12
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Zhang J, Chou OHI, Tse YL, Ng KM, Tse HF. Application of Patient-Specific iPSCs for Modelling and Treatment of X-Linked Cardiomyopathies. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22158132. [PMID: 34360897 PMCID: PMC8347533 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22158132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Inherited cardiomyopathies are among the major causes of heart failure and associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Currently, over 70 genes have been linked to the etiology of various forms of cardiomyopathy, some of which are X-linked. Due to the lack of appropriate cell and animal models, it has been difficult to model these X-linked cardiomyopathies. With the advancement of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, the ability to generate iPSC lines from patients with X-linked cardiomyopathy has facilitated in vitro modelling and drug testing for the condition. Nonetheless, due to the mosaicism of the X-chromosome inactivation, disease phenotypes of X-linked cardiomyopathy in heterozygous females are also usually more heterogeneous, with a broad spectrum of presentation. Recent advancements in iPSC procedures have enabled the isolation of cells with different lyonisation to generate isogenic disease and control cell lines. In this review, we will summarise the current strategies and examples of using an iPSC-based model to study different types of X-linked cardiomyopathy. The potential application of isogenic iPSC lines derived from a female patient with heterozygous Danon disease and drug screening will be demonstrated by our preliminary data. The limitations of an iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte-based platform will also be addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Zhang
- Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; (J.Z.); (O.H.-I.C.); (Y.-L.T.)
| | - Oscar Hou-In Chou
- Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; (J.Z.); (O.H.-I.C.); (Y.-L.T.)
| | - Yiu-Lam Tse
- Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; (J.Z.); (O.H.-I.C.); (Y.-L.T.)
| | - Kwong-Man Ng
- Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; (J.Z.); (O.H.-I.C.); (Y.-L.T.)
- Correspondence: (K.-M.N.); (H.-F.T.); Tel.: +852-3917-9955 (K.-M.N.); +852-2255-3598 (H.-F.T.)
| | - Hung-Fat Tse
- Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; (J.Z.); (O.H.-I.C.); (Y.-L.T.)
- Centre of Translational Stem Cell Biology, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong, China
- Correspondence: (K.-M.N.); (H.-F.T.); Tel.: +852-3917-9955 (K.-M.N.); +852-2255-3598 (H.-F.T.)
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13
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Zhu Y, Wang L, Cui C, Qin H, Chen H, Chen S, Lin Y, Cheng H, Jiang X, Chen M. Pathogenesis and drug response of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes from two Brugada syndrome patients with different Na v1.5-subunit mutations. J Biomed Res 2021; 35:395-407. [PMID: 34628405 PMCID: PMC8502687 DOI: 10.7555/jbr.35.20210045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a complex genetic cardiac ion channel disease that causes a high predisposition to sudden cardiac death. Considering that its heterogeneity in clinical manifestations may result from genetic background, the application of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) may help to reveal cell phenotype characteristics underlying different genetic variations. Here, to verify and compare the pathogenicity of mutations (SCN5A c.4213G>A andSCN1B c.590C>T) identified from two BrS patients, we generated two novel BrS iPS cell lines that carried missense mutations inSCN5A or SCN1B, compared their structures and electrophysiology, and evaluated the safety of quinidine in patient-specific iPSC-derived CMs. Compared to the control group, BrS-CMs showed a significant reduction in sodium current, prolonged action potential duration, and varying degrees of decreased Vmax, but no structural difference. After applying different concentrations of quinidine, drug-induced cardiotoxicity was not observed within 3-fold unbound effective therapeutic plasma concentration (ETPC). The data presented proved that iPSC-CMs with variants in SCN5A c.4213G>A orSCN1B c.590C>T are able to recapitulate single-cell phenotype features of BrS and respond appropriately to quinidine without increasing incidence of arrhythmic events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Zhu
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Linlin Wang
- Department of Cardiology, the Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Chest Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Chang Cui
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Huiyuan Qin
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Hongwu Chen
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Shaojie Chen
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Yongping Lin
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Hongyi Cheng
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Xiaohong Jiang
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Minglong Chen
- Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
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14
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A predictive in vitro risk assessment platform for pro-arrhythmic toxicity using human 3D cardiac microtissues. Sci Rep 2021; 11:10228. [PMID: 33986332 PMCID: PMC8119415 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89478-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Cardiotoxicity of pharmaceutical drugs, industrial chemicals, and environmental toxicants can be severe, even life threatening, which necessitates a thorough evaluation of the human response to chemical compounds. Predicting risks for arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death accurately is critical for defining safety profiles. Currently available approaches have limitations including a focus on single select ion channels, the use of non-human species in vitro and in vivo, and limited direct physiological translation. We have advanced the robustness and reproducibility of in vitro platforms for assessing pro-arrhythmic cardiotoxicity using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and human cardiac fibroblasts in 3-dimensional microtissues. Using automated algorithms and statistical analyses of eight comprehensive evaluation metrics of cardiac action potentials, we demonstrate that tissue-engineered human cardiac microtissues respond appropriately to physiological stimuli and effectively differentiate between high-risk and low-risk compounds exhibiting blockade of the hERG channel (E4031 and ranolazine, respectively). Further, we show that the environmental endocrine disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) causes acute and sensitive disruption of human action potentials in the nanomolar range. Thus, this novel human 3D in vitro pro-arrhythmic risk assessment platform addresses critical needs in cardiotoxicity testing for both environmental and pharmaceutical compounds and can be leveraged to establish safe human exposure levels.
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15
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Hortigon-Vinagre MP, Zamora V, Burton FL, Smith GL. The Use of Voltage Sensitive Dye di-4-ANEPPS and Video-Based Contractility Measurements to Assess Drug Effects on Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 2021; 77:280-290. [PMID: 33109927 DOI: 10.1097/fjc.0000000000000937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Because cardiotoxicity is one of the leading causes of drug failure and attrition, the design of new protocols and technologies to assess proarrhythmic risks on cardiac cells is in continuous development by different laboratories. Current methodologies use electrical, intracellular Ca2+, or contractility assays to evaluate cardiotoxicity. Increasingly, the human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are the in vitro tissue model used in commercial assays because it is believed to recapitulate many aspects of human cardiac physiology. In this work, we demonstrate that the combination of a contractility and voltage measurements, using video-based imaging and fluorescence microscopy, on hiPSC-CMs allows the investigation of mechanistic links between electrical and mechanical effects in an assay design that can address medium throughput scales necessary for drug screening, offering a view of the mechanisms underlying drug toxicity. To assess the accuracy of this novel technique, 10 commercially available inotropic drugs were tested (5 positive and 5 negative). Included were drugs with simple and specific mechanisms, such as nifedipine, Bay K8644, and blebbistatin, and others with a more complex action such as isoproterenol, pimobendan, digoxin, and amrinone, among others. In addition, the results provide a mechanism for the toxicity of itraconazole in a human model, a drug with reported side effects on the heart. The data demonstrate a strong negative inotropic effect because of the blockade of L-type Ca2+ channels and additional action on the cardiac myofilaments. We can conclude that the combination of contractility and action potential measurements can provide wider mechanistic knowledge of drug cardiotoxicity for preclinical assays.
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MESH Headings
- Action Potentials/drug effects
- Arrhythmias, Cardiac/chemically induced
- Arrhythmias, Cardiac/metabolism
- Arrhythmias, Cardiac/physiopathology
- Calcium Channels, L-Type/drug effects
- Calcium Channels, L-Type/metabolism
- Cardiotoxicity
- Cell Differentiation
- Cells, Cultured
- Excitation Contraction Coupling/drug effects
- Fluorescent Dyes/chemistry
- Humans
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/drug effects
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/metabolism
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/pathology
- Microscopy, Fluorescence
- Microscopy, Video
- Myocardial Contraction/drug effects
- Myocytes, Cardiac/drug effects
- Myocytes, Cardiac/metabolism
- Myocytes, Cardiac/pathology
- Myofibrils/drug effects
- Myofibrils/metabolism
- Myofibrils/pathology
- Pyridinium Compounds/chemistry
- Risk Assessment
- Time Factors
- Toxicity Tests
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Pura Hortigon-Vinagre
- Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular y Genética, Facultad de Ciencias, Universdad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Victor Zamora
- Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Energética y de los Materiales, Escuela de Ingerierias Industriales, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Francis L Burton
- Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom ; and
- Clyde Biosciences Ltd, BioCity Scotland, Newhouse, United Kingdom
| | - Godfrey L Smith
- Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom ; and
- Clyde Biosciences Ltd, BioCity Scotland, Newhouse, United Kingdom
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16
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Visone R, Ugolini GS, Cruz-Moreira D, Marzorati S, Piazza S, Pesenti E, Redaelli A, Moretti M, Occhetta P, Rasponi M. Micro-electrode channel guide (µECG) technology: an online method for continuous electrical recording in a human beating heart-on-chip. Biofabrication 2021; 13. [PMID: 33561845 DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/abe4c4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Cardiac toxicity still represents a common adverse outcome causing drug attrition and post-marketing withdrawal. The development of relevant in vitro models resembling the human heart recently opened the path towards a more accurate detection of drug-induced human cardiac toxicity early in the drug development process. Organs-on-chip (OoC) have been proposed as promising tools to recapitulate in vitro the key aspects of the in vivo cardiac physiology and to provide a means to directly analyze functional readouts. In this scenario, a new device capable of continuous monitoring of electrophysiological signals from functional in vitro human hearts-on-chip is here presented. The development of cardiac microtissues was achieved through a recently published method to control the mechanical environment, while the introduction of a technology consisting in micro-electrode coaxial guides (µECG) allowed to conduct direct and non-destructive electrophysiology studies. The generated human cardiac microtissues exhibited synchronous spontaneous beating, as demonstrated by multi-point and continuous acquisition of cardiac field potential, and expression of relevant genes encoding for cardiac ion-channels. A proof-of-concept pharmacological validation on 3 drugs proved the proposed model to potentially be a powerful tool to evaluate functional cardiac toxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta Visone
- Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, Lombardia, 20133, ITALY
| | - Giovanni Stefano Ugolini
- Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, Lombardia, 20133, ITALY
| | - Daniela Cruz-Moreira
- Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, Lombardia, 20133, ITALY
| | - Simona Marzorati
- Translational Medicine, Accelera Srl, via Pasteur, Nerviano, Nerviano, MI, 20100, ITALY
| | - Stefano Piazza
- BiomimX Srl, Via Giovanni Durando 38/A, Milan, 20158, ITALY
| | | | - Alberto Redaelli
- Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, Lombardia, 20133, ITALY
| | - Matteo Moretti
- Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute, via R Galeazzi 4, Milan, 20161, ITALY
| | - Paola Occhetta
- Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, Lombardia, 20133, ITALY
| | - Marco Rasponi
- Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Elettronica Informazione e Bioingegneria, Via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, Lombardia, 20133, ITALY
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17
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Barbaglia A, Dipalo M, Melle G, Iachetta G, Deleye L, Hubarevich A, Toma A, Tantussi F, De Angelis F. Mirroring Action Potentials: Label-Free, Accurate, and Noninvasive Electrophysiological Recordings of Human-Derived Cardiomyocytes. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2021; 33:e2004234. [PMID: 33410191 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202004234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2020] [Revised: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
The electrophysiological recording of action potentials in human cells is a long-sought objective due to its pivotal importance in many disciplines. Among the developed techniques, invasiveness remains a common issue, causing cytotoxicity or altering unpredictably cell physiological response. In this work, a new approach for recording intracellular signals of outstanding quality and with noninvasiveness is introduced. By taking profit of the concept of mirror charge in classical electrodynamics, the new proposed device transduces cell ionic currents into mirror charges in a microfluidic chamber, thus realizing a virtual mirror cell. By monitoring mirror charge dynamics, it is possible to effectively record the action potentials fired by the cells. Since there is no need for accessing or interacting with the cells, the method is intrinsically noninvasive. In addition, being based on optical recording, it shows high spatial resolution and high parallelization. As shown through a set of experiments, the presented methodology is an ideal candidate for the next generation devices for the reliable assessment of cardiotoxicity on human-derived cardiomyocytes. More generally, it paves the way toward a new family of in vitro biodevices that will lay a new milestone in the field of electrophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Barbaglia
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy
| | - Michele Dipalo
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy
| | - Giovanni Melle
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy
| | | | - Lieselot Deleye
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy
| | | | - Andrea Toma
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy
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18
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Echeazarra L, Hortigón-Vinagre MP, Casis O, Gallego M. Adult and Developing Zebrafish as Suitable Models for Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pathology in Research and Industry. Front Physiol 2021; 11:607860. [PMID: 33519514 PMCID: PMC7838705 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2020.607860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The electrophysiological behavior of the zebrafish heart is very similar to that of the human heart. In fact, most of the genes that codify the channels and regulatory proteins required for human cardiac function have their orthologs in the zebrafish. The high fecundity, small size, and easy handling make the zebrafish embryos/larvae an interesting candidate to perform whole animal experiments within a plate, offering a reliable and low-cost alternative to replace rodents and larger mammals for the study of cardiac physiology and pathology. The employment of zebrafish embryos/larvae has widened from basic science to industry, being of particular interest for pharmacology studies, since the zebrafish embryo/larva is able to recapitulate a complete and integrated view of cardiac physiology, missed in cell culture. As in the human heart, IKr is the dominant repolarizing current and it is functional as early as 48 h post fertilization. Finally, genome editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 facilitate the humanization of zebrafish embryos/larvae. These techniques allow one to replace zebrafish genes by their human orthologs, making humanized zebrafish embryos/larvae the most promising in vitro model, since it allows the recreation of human-organ-like environment, which is especially necessary in cardiac studies due to the implication of dynamic factors, electrical communication, and the paracrine signals in cardiac function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leyre Echeazarra
- Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
| | - Maria Pura Hortigón-Vinagre
- Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular y Genética>, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Oscar Casis
- Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
| | - Mónica Gallego
- Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
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19
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Microelectrode Arrays: A Valuable Tool to Analyze Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. Stem Cells 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-77052-5_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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20
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Gintant G, Kaushik EP, Feaster T, Stoelzle-Feix S, Kanda Y, Osada T, Smith G, Czysz K, Kettenhofen R, Lu HR, Cai B, Shi H, Herron TJ, Dang Q, Burton F, Pang L, Traebert M, Abassi Y, Pierson JB, Blinova K. Repolarization studies using human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes: Validation studies and best practice recommendations. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 2020; 117:104756. [DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2020.104756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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21
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Bedut S, Kettenhofen R, D'Angelo JM. Voltage-sensing optical recording: A method of choice for high-throughput assessment of cardiotropic effects. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 2020; 105:106888. [PMID: 32579903 DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2020.106888] [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: 02/14/2020] [Revised: 05/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Voltage and calcium-sensing optical recording (VSOR and CSOR, respectively) from human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) have been validated for in vitro evaluation of cardiotropic effects of drugs. When compared to electrophysiological devices like microelectrode array, multi-well optical recordings present a lower sample rate that may limit their capacity to detect fast depolarization or propagation velocity alterations. Additionally, the respective sensitivities of VSOR and CSOR to different cardiac electrophysiological effects have not been compared in the same conditions. METHODS FluoVolt and Cal520 dyes were used in 96 well format on hPSC-CMs to report sodium channel block by lidocaine and propagation slowing by the junctional uncoupler carbenoxolone at three recording frequencies (60, 120 and 200 Hz) as well as their sensitivity to early and late repolarization delay. RESULTS Sodium channel block led to a dose-dependent decrease of the VSOR signal rising slope that was improved by an increased sampling frequency. In contrast, the CSOR signal rising slope was only decreased at the highest concentration with no influence from the sampling rate. A similar result was obtained with carbenoxolone. Early repolarization delay by Bay K8644 showed the same effects on VSOR and CSOR signal durations while repolarization slowing by dofetilide had a significantly stronger prolongating effect on the VSOR signal at the lowest concentration. DISCUSSION VSOR showed a higher capacity to detect sodium channel block, propagation slowing and modest late repolarization delay than CSOR. Increasing the sampling rate improved the detection threshold of VSOR for excitability and conduction velocity alterations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stéphane Bedut
- E-physervices, 1 rue de la Collégiale, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Ralf Kettenhofen
- Fraunhofer-Institut für Biomedizinische Technik IBMT, Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Weg 1, 66280 Sulzbach, Germany
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22
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Kussauer S, David R, Lemcke H. hiPSCs Derived Cardiac Cells for Drug and Toxicity Screening and Disease Modeling: What Micro- Electrode-Array Analyses Can Tell Us. Cells 2019; 8:cells8111331. [PMID: 31661896 PMCID: PMC6912416 DOI: 10.3390/cells8111331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CM) have been intensively used in drug development and disease modeling. Since iPSC-cardiomyocyte (CM) was first generated, their characterization has become a major focus of research. Multi-/micro-electrode array (MEA) systems provide a non-invasive user-friendly platform for detailed electrophysiological analysis of iPSC cardiomyocytes including drug testing to identify potential targets and the assessment of proarrhythmic risk. Here, we provide a systematical overview about the physiological and technical background of micro-electrode array measurements of iPSC-CM. We introduce the similarities and differences between action- and field potential and the advantages and drawbacks of MEA technology. In addition, we present current studies focusing on proarrhythmic side effects of novel and established compounds combining MEA systems and iPSC-CM. MEA technology will help to open a new gateway for novel therapies in cardiovascular diseases while reducing animal experiments at the same time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Kussauer
- Department Cardiac Surgery, Medical Center, University of Rostock, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
| | - Robert David
- Department Cardiac Surgery, Medical Center, University of Rostock, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
| | - Heiko Lemcke
- Department Cardiac Surgery, Medical Center, University of Rostock, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
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Methodological and technological advances in safety pharmacology - New or simply nuanced? J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 2019; 99:106604. [PMID: 31254621 DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2019.106604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
This editorial previews and summarizes the content of the current themed issue of J Pharm Tox Methods derived from the recent 2018 Annual Safety Pharmacology Society (SPS) meeting held in Washington, DC. The papers highlight improvements in methods and study endpoints used in non-clinical safety pharmacology (SP) to enhance clinical translatability. Articles cover areas including the SP assessment of oligonucleotides and gene therapy, core battery clinical translation case studies, next generation non-opiate pain management strategy, aspects of cardio-oncology that extend the traditional objectives of an SP assessment, real-world advanced imaging techniques used in preclinical safety, in silico approaches including mathematical modeling, machine learning, and bioinformatics and how secondary SP studies impact clinical trial interpretation and design. The meeting included scientific content from >190 abstracts (reproduced in the current volume of J Pharm Tox Methods).
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