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Huang N, Chan BP. A 3D micro-printed single cell micro-niche with asymmetric niche signals - An in vitro model for asymmetric cell division study. Biomaterials 2024; 311:122684. [PMID: 38971120 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2024.122684] [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: 03/16/2024] [Revised: 05/31/2024] [Accepted: 06/23/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024]
Abstract
Intricate microenvironment signals orchestrate to affect cell behavior and fate during tissue morphogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms on how specific local niche signals influence cell behavior and fate are not fully understood, owing to the lack of in vitro platform able to precisely, quantitatively, spatially, and independently manipulate individual niche signals. Here, microarrays of protein-based 3D single cell micro-niche (3D-SCμN), with precisely engineered biophysical and biochemical niche signals, are micro-printed by a multiphoton microfabrication and micropatterning technology. Mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) is used as the model cell to study how local niche signals affect stem cell behavior and fate. By precisely engineering the internal microstructures of the 3D SCμNs, we demonstrate that the cell division direction can be controlled by the biophysical niche signals, in a cell shape-independent manner. After confining the cell division direction to a dominating axis, single mESCs are exposed to asymmetric biochemical niche signals, specifically, cell-cell adhesion molecule on one side and extracellular matrix on the other side. We demonstrate that, symmetry-breaking (asymmetric) niche signals successfully trigger cell polarity formation and bias the orientation of asymmetric cell division, the mitosis process resulting in two daughter cells with differential fates, in mESCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Huang
- Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Biomedical Engineering Program, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China; Tissue Engineering Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, And Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
| | - Barbara Pui Chan
- Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Biomedical Engineering Program, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China; Tissue Engineering Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, And Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
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2
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Zhao X, Radford BN, Ungrin M, Dean W, Hemberger M. The Trophoblast Compartment Helps Maintain Embryonic Pluripotency and Delays Differentiation towards Cardiomyocytes. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:12423. [PMID: 37569800 PMCID: PMC10418709 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241512423] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Normal developmental progression relies on close interactions between the embryonic and extraembryonic lineages in the pre- and peri-gastrulation stage conceptus. For example, mouse epiblast-derived FGF and NODAL signals are required to maintain a stem-like state in trophoblast cells of the extraembryonic ectoderm, while visceral endoderm signals are pivotal to pattern the anterior region of the epiblast. These developmental stages also coincide with the specification of the first heart precursors. Here, we established a robust differentiation protocol of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into cardiomyocyte-containing embryoid bodies that we used to test the impact of trophoblast on this key developmental process. Using trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) to produce trophoblast-conditioned medium (TCM), we show that TCM profoundly slows down the cardiomyocyte differentiation dynamics and specifically delays the emergence of cardiac mesoderm progenitors. TCM also strongly promotes the retention of pluripotency transcription factors, thereby sustaining the stem cell state of ESCs. By applying TCM from various mutant TSCs, we further show that those mutations that cause a trophoblast-mediated effect on early heart development in vivo alter the normal cardiomyocyte differentiation trajectory. Our approaches provide a meaningful deconstruction of the intricate crosstalk between the embryonic and the extraembryonic compartments. They demonstrate that trophoblast helps prolong a pluripotent state in embryonic cells and delays early differentiative processes, likely through production of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). These data expand our knowledge of the multifaceted signaling interactions among distinct compartments of the early conceptus that ensure normal embryogenesis, insights that will be of significance for the field of synthetic embryo research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Zhao
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada;
- Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada; (B.N.R.); (M.U.)
| | - Bethany N. Radford
- Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada; (B.N.R.); (M.U.)
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - Mark Ungrin
- Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada; (B.N.R.); (M.U.)
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - Wendy Dean
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada;
- Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada; (B.N.R.); (M.U.)
| | - Myriam Hemberger
- Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada; (B.N.R.); (M.U.)
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
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Repina NA, Johnson HJ, Bao X, Zimmermann JA, Joy DA, Bi SZ, Kane RS, Schaffer DV. Optogenetic control of Wnt signaling models cell-intrinsic embryogenic patterning using 2D human pluripotent stem cell culture. Development 2023; 150:dev201386. [PMID: 37401411 PMCID: PMC10399980 DOI: 10.1242/dev.201386] [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: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
In embryonic stem cell (ESC) models for early development, spatially and temporally varying patterns of signaling and cell types emerge spontaneously. However, mechanistic insight into this dynamic self-organization is limited by a lack of methods for spatiotemporal control of signaling, and the relevance of signal dynamics and cell-to-cell variability to pattern emergence remains unknown. Here, we combine optogenetic stimulation, imaging and transcriptomic approaches to study self-organization of human ESCs (hESC) in two-dimensional (2D) culture. Morphogen dynamics were controlled via optogenetic activation of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling (optoWnt), which drove broad transcriptional changes and mesendoderm differentiation at high efficiency (>99% cells). When activated within cell subpopulations, optoWnt induced cell self-organization into distinct epithelial and mesenchymal domains, mediated by changes in cell migration, an epithelial to mesenchymal-like transition and TGFβ signaling. Furthermore, we demonstrate that such optogenetic control of cell subpopulations can be used to uncover signaling feedback mechanisms between neighboring cell types. These findings reveal that cell-to-cell variability in Wnt signaling is sufficient to generate tissue-scale patterning and establish a hESC model system for investigating feedback mechanisms relevant to early human embryogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole A. Repina
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Hunter J. Johnson
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Xiaoping Bao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Joshua A. Zimmermann
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - David A. Joy
- Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Shirley Z. Bi
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Ravi S. Kane
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - David V. Schaffer
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Bao M, Cornwall-Scoones J, Zernicka-Goetz M. Stem-cell-based human and mouse embryo models. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2022; 76:101970. [PMID: 35988317 PMCID: PMC10309046 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2022.101970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Synthetic embryology aims to develop embryo-like structures from stem cells to provide new insight into early stages of mammalian development. Recent advances in synthetic embryology have highlighted the remarkable capacity of stem cells to self-organize under certain biochemical or biophysical stimulations, generating structures that recapitulate the fate and form of early mouse/human embryos, in which symmetry breaking, pattern formation, or proper morphogenesis can be observed spontaneously. Here we review recent progress on the design principles for different types of embryoids and discuss the impact of different biochemical and biophysical factors on the process of stem-cell self-organization. We also offer our thoughts about the principal future challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Bao
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Mammalian Embryo and Stem Cell Group, Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK. https://twitter.com/@Min_Bao_
| | - Jake Cornwall-Scoones
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK. https://twitter.com/@jake_cs_
| | - Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Mammalian Embryo and Stem Cell Group, Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.
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Gordeeva O, Gordeev A, Erokhov P. Archetypal Architecture Construction, Patterning, and Scaling Invariance in a 3D Embryoid Body Differentiation Model. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:852071. [PMID: 35573693 PMCID: PMC9091174 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.852071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-organized patterning and architecture construction studying is a priority goal for fundamental developmental and stem cell biology. To study the spatiotemporal patterning of pluripotent stem cells of different origins, we developed a three-dimensional embryoid body (EB) differentiation model quantifying volumetric parameters and investigated how the EB architecture formation, patterning, and scaling depend on the proliferation, cavitation, and differentiation dynamics, external environmental factors, and cell numbers. We identified three similar spatiotemporal patterns in the EB architectures, regardless of cell origin, which constitute the EB archetype and mimick the pre-gastrulation embryonic patterns. We found that the EB patterning depends strongly on cellular positional information, culture media factor/morphogen content, and free diffusion from the external environment and between EB cell layers. However, the EB archetype formation is independent of the EB size and initial cell numbers forming EBs; therefore, it is capable of scaling invariance and patterning regulation. Our findings indicate that the underlying principles of reaction-diffusion and positional information concepts can serve as the basis for EB architecture construction, patterning, and scaling. Thus, the 3D EB differentiation model represents a highly reproducible and reliable platform for experimental and theoretical research on developmental and stem cell biology issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Gordeeva
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Andrey Gordeev
- National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Pavel Erokhov
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
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Changes in the Mitochondria-Related Nuclear Gene Expression Profile during Human Oocyte Maturation by the IVM Technique. Cells 2022; 11:cells11020297. [PMID: 35053413 PMCID: PMC8774259 DOI: 10.3390/cells11020297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2021] [Revised: 01/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
To address which mitochondria-related nuclear differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and related pathways are altered during human oocyte maturation, single-cell analysis was performed in three oocyte states: in vivo matured (M-IVO), in vitro matured (M-IVT), and failed to mature in vitro (IM-IVT). There were 691 DEGs and 16 mitochondria-related DEGs in the comparison of M-IVT vs. IM-IVT oocytes, and 2281 DEGs and 160 mitochondria-related DEGs in the comparison of M-IVT vs. M-IVO oocytes, respectively. The GO and KEGG analyses showed that most of them were involved in pathways such as oxidative phosphorylation, pyruvate metabolism, peroxisome, and amino acid metabolism, i.e., valine, leucine, isoleucine, glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism or degradation. During the progress of oocyte maturation, the metabolic pathway, which derives the main source of ATP, shifted from glucose metabolism to pyruvate and fatty acid oxidation in order to maintain a low level of damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Although the immature oocytes could be cultured to a mature stage by an in vitro technique (IVM), there were still some differences in mitochondria-related regulations, which showed that the mitochondria were regulated by nuclear genes to compensate for their developmental needs. Meanwhile, the results indicated that the current IVM culture medium should be optimized to compensate for the special need for further development according to this disclosure, as it was a latent strategy to improve the effectiveness of the IVM procedure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jake Cornwall-Scoones
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
| | - Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA; Mammalian Embryo and Stem Cell Group, University of Cambridge, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Cambridge, CB2 3EG, UK.
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Morales JS, Raspopovic J, Marcon L. From embryos to embryoids: How external signals and self-organization drive embryonic development. Stem Cell Reports 2021; 16:1039-1050. [PMID: 33979592 PMCID: PMC8185431 DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.03.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Revised: 03/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Embryonic development has been traditionally seen as an inductive process directed by exogenous maternal inputs and extra-embryonic signals. Increasing evidence, however, is showing that, in addition to exogenous signals, the development of the embryo involves endogenous self-organization. Recently, this self-organizing potential has been highlighted by a number of stem cell models known as embryoids that can recapitulate different aspects of embryogenesis in vitro. Here, we review the self-organizing behaviors observed in different embryoid models and seek to reconcile this new evidence with classical knowledge of developmental biology. This analysis leads to reexamine embryonic development as a guided self-organizing process, where patterning and morphogenesis are controlled by a combination of exogenous signals and endogenous self-organization. Finally, we discuss the multidisciplinary approach required to investigate the genetic and cellular basis of self-organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Serrano Morales
- Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology (CABD), CSIC - UPO - JA, Seville, Spain
| | - Jelena Raspopovic
- Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology (CABD), CSIC - UPO - JA, Seville, Spain.
| | - Luciano Marcon
- Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology (CABD), CSIC - UPO - JA, Seville, Spain.
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