1
|
Ariyasinghe NR, Reck CH, Viscio AA, Petersen AP, Lyra-Leite DM, Cho N, McCain ML. Engineering micromyocardium to delineate cellular and extracellular regulation of myocardial tissue contractility. Integr Biol (Camb) 2018; 9:730-741. [PMID: 28726917 DOI: 10.1039/c7ib00081b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death, in part due to limitations of existing models of the myocardium. Myocardium consists of aligned, contractile cardiac myocytes interspersed with fibroblasts that synthesize extracellular matrix (ECM). The cellular demographics and biochemical and mechanical properties of the ECM remodel in many different cardiac diseases. However, the impact of diverse cellular and extracellular remodeling on the contractile output of the myocardium are poorly understood. To address this, we micropatterned 13 kPa and 90 kPa polyacrylamide gels with aligned squares of fibronectin (FN) or laminin (LN). We seeded gels with two concentrations of primary neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, which naturally contain fibroblasts. Cells assembled into aligned "μMyocardia" with fibroblast : myocyte ratios dependent on initial seeding concentration. Using traction force microscopy (TFM), we found that the peak systolic longitudinal cross-sectional force was similar across conditions, but the peak systolic work was significantly lower on 90 kPa gels. This indicates that ECM elasticity dominates over ECM ligand and cell demographics in regulating contractile output. Because our platform provides independent control over cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, it has many applications for cardiac disease modeling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nethika R Ariyasinghe
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, 1042 Downey Way, DRB 140, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Li Y, Asfour H, Bursac N. Age-dependent functional crosstalk between cardiac fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes in a 3D engineered cardiac tissue. Acta Biomater 2017; 55:120-130. [PMID: 28455218 DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2017.04.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2017] [Revised: 04/18/2017] [Accepted: 04/24/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Complex heterocellular interactions between cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts in the heart involve their bidirectional signaling via cell-cell contacts, paracrine factors, and extracellular matrix (ECM). These interactions vary with heart development and pathology leading to changes in cardiac structure and function. Whether cardiac fibroblasts of different ages interact differentially with cardiomyocytes to distinctly impact their function remains unknown. Here, we explored the direct structural and functional effects of fetal and adult cardiac fibroblasts on cardiomyocytes using a tissue-engineered 3D co-culture system. We show that the age of cardiac fibroblasts is a strong determinant of the structure, function, and molecular properties of co-cultured tissues. In particular, in vitro expanded adult, but not fetal, cardiac fibroblasts significantly deteriorated electrical and mechanical function of the co-cultured cardiomyocytes, as evidenced by slower action potential conduction, prolonged action potential duration, weaker contractions, higher tissue stiffness, and reduced calcium transient amplitude. This functional deficit was associated with structural and molecular signatures of pathological remodeling including fibroblast proliferation, interstitial collagen deposition, and upregulation of pro-fibrotic markers. Our studies imply critical roles of the age of supporting cells in engineering functional cardiac tissues and provide a new physiologically relevant in vitro platform to investigate influence of heterocellular interactions on cardiomyocyte function, development, and disease. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Previous studies have shown that cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts in the heart interact through direct contacts, paracrine factors, and matrix-mediated crosstalk. However, whether cardiac fibroblasts of different ages distinctly impact cardiomyocyte function remains elusive. We employed a tissue-engineered hydrogel-based co-culture system to study interactions of cardiomyocytes with fetal or adult cardiac fibroblasts. We show that the age of cardiac fibroblasts is a strong determinant of the structure, function, and molecular properties of engineered cardiac tissues and that key features of fibrotic myocardium are replicated by supplementing cardiomyocytes with expanded adult but not fetal fibroblasts. These findings relate to implantation of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in adult myocardium and warrant further studies of how age and source of non-myocytes impact cardiac function and maturation.
Collapse
|
3
|
Sabour D, Srinivasan SP, Rohani S, Wagh V, Gaspar JA, Panek D, Ardestani MA, Doss MX, Riet N, Abken H, Hescheler J, Papadopoulos S, Sachinidis A. STRIP2 Is Indispensable for the Onset of Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation. MOLECULAR THERAPY-METHODS & CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT 2017; 5:116-129. [PMID: 28480311 PMCID: PMC5415327 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2017.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2017] [Accepted: 04/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The role of striatin interacting protein 2 (Strip2) in differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is still under debate. Strip2-silenced murine (KD) ESCs were differentiated for 4, 8, 12, and 16 days. We show that Strip2 is distributed in the perinucleus or nuclei of wild-type (WT) undifferentiated ESCs, but is localized in high-density nuclear bodies in differentiated cells. CellNet analysis of microarray gene expression data for the KD and scrambled control (SCR) embryoid bodies (EBs), as well as immunostainings of key pluripotent factors, demonstrated that differentiation of KD ESCs is repressed. This occurs even in 16-day-old EBs, which possessed a high tumorigenic potential. Correlated with very high expression levels of epigenetic regulator genes, Hat1 and Dnmt3, enzymatic activities of the histone acetyltransferase type B (Hat1) and DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3 beta (Dnmt3b) were higher in differentiated 16-day-old KD EBs than in SCR or WT EBs. The expression levels of let-7, 290, and 302 microRNA families were opposed in KD ESCs, while KD EBs had levels comparable to WT and SCR ESCs during differentiation. Strip2 is critical for the regular differentiation of ESCs. Moreover, Strip2 deficient ESCs showed a dysregulation of epigenetic regulators and microRNAs regulating pluripotency.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Davood Sabour
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Sureshkumar Perumal Srinivasan
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Susan Rohani
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Vilas Wagh
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - John Antonydas Gaspar
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Darius Panek
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Mostafa Abootorabi Ardestani
- Institute of Vegetative Physiology, Center of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Cologne, Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Michael Xavier Doss
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Nicole Riet
- Department I for Internal Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, Robert-Koch-Strasse 21, University of Cologne, and University Hospital Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Hinrich Abken
- Department I for Internal Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, Robert-Koch-Strasse 21, University of Cologne, and University Hospital Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Jürgen Hescheler
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Symeon Papadopoulos
- Institute of Vegetative Physiology, Center of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Cologne, Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Agapios Sachinidis
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne (UKK), Robert-Koch-Strasse 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Liau B, Jackman CP, Li Y, Bursac N. Developmental stage-dependent effects of cardiac fibroblasts on function of stem cell-derived engineered cardiac tissues. Sci Rep 2017; 7:42290. [PMID: 28181589 PMCID: PMC5299411 DOI: 10.1038/srep42290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2016] [Accepted: 01/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether the developmental stage of mouse cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) influences the formation and function of engineered cardiac tissues made of mouse embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (mESC-CMs). Engineered cardiac tissue patches were fabricated by encapsulating pure mESC-CMs, mESC-CMs + adult CFs, or mESC-CMs + fetal CFs in fibrin-based hydrogel. Tissue patches containing fetal CFs exhibited higher velocity of action potential propagation and contractile force amplitude compared to patches containing adult CFs, while pure mESC-CM patches did not form functional syncytium. The functional improvements in mESC-CM + fetal CF patches were associated with differences in structural remodeling and increased expression of proteins involved in cardiac function. To determine role of paracrine signaling, we cultured pure mESC-CMs within miniature tissue "micro-patches" supplemented with media conditioned by adult or fetal CFs. Fetal CF-conditioned media distinctly enhanced CM spreading and contractile activity, which was shown by pathway inhibitor experiments and Western blot analysis to be mediated via MEK-ERK signaling. In mESC-CM monolayers, CF-conditioned media did not alter CM spreading or MEK-ERK activation. Collectively, our studies show that 3D co-culture of mESC-CMs with embryonic CFs is superior to co-culture with adult CFs for in vitro generation of functional myocardium. Ensuring consistent developmental stages of cardiomyocytes and supporting non-myocytes may be a critical factor for promoting functional maturation of engineered cardiac tissues.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brian Liau
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | - Yanzhen Li
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Nenad Bursac
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Lu Q, Yu M, Shen C, Chen X, Feng T, Yao Y, Li J, Li H, Tu W. Negligible immunogenicity of induced pluripotent stem cells derived from human skin fibroblasts. PLoS One 2014; 9:e114949. [PMID: 25503995 PMCID: PMC4263724 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2014] [Accepted: 11/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have potential applications in cell replacement therapy and regenerative medicine. However, limited information is available regarding the immunologic features of iPSCs. In this study, expression of MHC and T cell co-stimulatory molecules in hiPSCs, and the effects on activation, proliferation and cytokine production in allogeneic human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were examined. We found that no-integrate hiPSCs had no MHC-II and T cell co-stimulatory molecules expressions but had moderate level of MHC-I and HLA-G expressions. In contrast to human skin fibroblasts (HSFs) which significantly induced allogeneic T cell activation and proliferation, hiPSCs failed to induce allogeneic CD45+ lymphocyte and CD8+ T cell activation and proliferation but could induce a low level of allogeneic CD4+ T cell proliferation. Unlike HSFs which induced allogeneic lymphocytes to produce high levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-17, hiPSCs only induced allogeneic lymphocytes to produce IL-2 and IL-10, and promote IL-10-secreting regulatory T cell (Treg) generation. Our study suggests that the integration-free hiPSCs had low or negligible immunogenicity, which may result from their induction of IL-10-secreting Treg.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qiao Lu
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
- Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Hubei University for Nationalities, Enshi, Hubei, 445000, China
| | - Meixing Yu
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
| | - Chongyang Shen
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
| | - Xiaoping Chen
- Laboratory of Pathogen Biology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Center for Infection and Immunity, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510530, China
| | - Ting Feng
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
| | - Yongchao Yao
- Laboratory of Pathogen Biology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Center for Infection and Immunity, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510530, China
| | - Jinrong Li
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
| | - Hong Li
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
- Key Laboratory of Obstetric and Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects of Ministry of Education, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
- * E-mail: (HL); (WT)
| | - Wenwei Tu
- The Joint Research Center of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
- * E-mail: (HL); (WT)
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Rubach M, Adelmann R, Haustein M, Drey F, Pfannkuche K, Xiao B, Koester A, Udink ten Cate FEA, Choi YH, Neef K, Fatima A, Hannes T, Pillekamp F, Hescheler J, Šarić T, Brockmeier K, Khalil M. Mesenchymal stem cells and their conditioned medium improve integration of purified induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte clusters into myocardial tissue. Stem Cells Dev 2014; 23:643-53. [PMID: 24219308 DOI: 10.1089/scd.2013.0272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPS-CMs) might become therapeutically relevant to regenerate myocardial damage. Purified iPS-CMs exhibit poor functional integration into myocardial tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether murine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or their conditioned medium (MScond) improves the integration of murine iPS-CMs into myocardial tissue. Vital or nonvital embryonic murine ventricular tissue slices were cocultured with purified clusters of iPS-CMs in combination with murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), MSCs, or MScond. Morphological integration was assessed by visual scoring and functional integration by isometric force and field potential measurements. We observed a moderate morphological integration of iPS-CM clusters into vital, but a poor integration into nonvital, slices. MEFs and MSCs but not MScond improved morphological integration of CMs into nonvital slices and enabled purified iPS-CMs to confer force. Coculture of vital slices with iPS-CMs and MEFs or MSCs resulted in an improved electrical integration. A comparable improvement of electrical coupling was achieved with the cell-free MScond, indicating that soluble factors secreted by MSCs were involved in electrical coupling. We conclude that cells such as MSCs support the engraftment and adhesion of CMs, and confer force to noncontractile tissue. Furthermore, soluble factors secreted by MSCs mediate electrical coupling of purified iPS-CM clusters to myocardial tissue. These data suggest that MSCs may increase the functional engraftment and therapeutic efficacy of transplanted iPS-CMs into infarcted myocardium.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Rubach
- 1 Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Cologne , Cologne, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Low immunogenicity of neural progenitor cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from less immunogenic somatic cells. PLoS One 2013; 8:e69617. [PMID: 23922758 PMCID: PMC3724937 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2013] [Accepted: 06/12/2013] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The groundbreaking discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) provides a new source for cell therapy. However, whether the iPS derived functional lineages from different cell origins have different immunogenicity remains unknown. It had been known that the cells isolated from extra-embryonic tissues, such as umbilical cord mesenchymal cells (UMCs), are less immunogenic than other adult lineages such as skin fibroblasts (SFs). In this report, we differentiated iPS cells from human UMCs and SFs into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and analyzed their immunogenicity. Through co-culture with allologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we showed that UMCs were indeed less immunogenic than skin cells to simulate proliferation of PBMCs. Surprisingly, we found that the NPCs differentiated from UMC-iPS cells retained low immunogenicity as the parental UMCs based on the PBMC proliferation assay. In cytotoxic expression assay, reactions in most kinds of immune effector cells showed more perforin and granzyme B expression with SF-NPCs stimulation than that with UMC-NPCs stimulation in PBMC co-culture system, in T cell co-culture system as well. Furthermore, through whole genome expression microarray analysis, we showed that over 70 immune genes, including all members of HLA-I, were expressed at lower levels in NPCs derived from UMC-iPS cells than that from SF-iPS cells. Our results demonstrated a phenomenon that the low immunogenicity of the less immunogenic cells could be retained after cell reprogramming and further differentiation, thus provide a new concept to generate functional lineages with lower immunogenicity for regenerative medicine.
Collapse
|
8
|
Liau B, Christoforou N, Leong KW, Bursac N. Pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac tissue patch with advanced structure and function. Biomaterials 2011; 32:9180-7. [PMID: 21906802 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.08.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 176] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2011] [Accepted: 08/16/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Recent advances in pluripotent stem cell research have provided investigators with potent sources of cardiogenic cells. However, tissue engineering methodologies to assemble cardiac progenitors into aligned, 3-dimensional (3D) myocardial tissues capable of physiologically relevant electrical conduction and force generation are lacking. In this study, we introduced 3D cell alignment cues in a fibrin-based hydrogel matrix to engineer highly functional cardiac tissues from genetically purified mouse embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) and cardiovascular progenitors (CVPs). Procedures for CM and CVP derivation, purification, and functional differentiation in monolayer cultures were first optimized to yield robust intercellular coupling and maximize velocity of action potential propagation. A versatile soft-lithography technique was then applied to reproducibly fabricate engineered cardiac tissues with controllable size and 3D architecture. While purified CMs assembled into a functional 3D syncytium only when supplemented with supporting non-myocytes, purified CVPs differentiated into cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle, and endothelial cells, and autonomously supported the formation of functional cardiac tissues. After a total culture time similar to period of mouse embryonic development (21 days), the engineered cardiac tissues exhibited unprecedented levels of 3D organization and functional differentiation characteristic of native neonatal myocardium, including: 1) dense, uniformly aligned, highly differentiated and electromechanically coupled cardiomyocytes, 2) rapid action potential conduction with velocities between 22 and 25 cm/s, and 3) significant contractile forces of up to 2 mN. These results represent an important advancement in stem cell-based cardiac tissue engineering and provide the foundation for exploiting the exciting progress in pluripotent stem cell research in the future tissue engineering therapies for heart disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brian Liau
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|