技术资料

3D suspension culture is generally considered a promising method to achieve efficient expansion and controlled differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). In this work,we focused on developing an integrated culture platform for expansion and neural commitment of hPSCs into neural precursors using 3D suspension conditions and chemically-defined culture media. We evaluated different inoculation methodologies for hPSC expansion as 3D aggregates and characterized the resulting cultures in terms of aggregate size distribution. It was demonstrated that upon single-cell inoculation,after four days of culture,3D aggregates were composed of homogenous populations of hPSC and were characterized by an average diameter of 139 ± 26 μm,which was determined to be the optimal size to initiate neural commitment. Temporal analysis revealed that upon neural specification it is possible to maximize the percentage of neural precursor cells expressing the neural markers Sox1 and Pax6 after nine days of culture. These results highlight our ability to define a robust method for production of hPSC-derived neural precursors that minimizes processing steps and that constitutes a promising alternative to the traditional planar adherent culture system due to a high potential for scaling-up. View Publication

RTP801 expression is induced by cellular stress and has a pro-apoptotic function in non-proliferating differentiated cells such as neurons. In several neurodegenerative disorders,including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease,elevated levels of RTP801 have been observed,which suggests a role for RTP801 in neuronal death. Neuronal death is also a pathological hallmark in Huntington's disease (HD),an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene. Currently,the exact mechanisms underlying mutant huntingtin (mhtt)-induced toxicity are still unclear. Here,we investigated whether RTP801 is involved in (mhtt)-induced cell death. Ectopic exon-1 mhtt elevated RTP801 mRNA and protein levels in nerve growth factor (NGF)-differentiated PC12 cells and in rat primary cortical neurons. In neuronal PC12 cells,mhtt also contributed to RTP801 protein elevation by reducing its proteasomal degradation rate,in addition to promoting RTP801 gene expression. Interestingly,silencing RTP801 expression with short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) blocked mhtt-induced cell death in NGF-differentiated PC12 cells. However,RTP801 protein levels were not altered in the striatum of Hdh(Q7/Q111) and R6/1 mice,two HD models that display motor deficits but not neuronal death. Importantly,RTP801 protein levels were elevated in both neural telencephalic progenitors differentiated from HD patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and in the putamen and cerebellum of human HD postmortem brains. Taken together,our results suggest that RTP801 is a novel downstream effector of mhtt-induced toxicity and that it may be relevant to the human disease. View Publication

Nature Communications 6,(2015). doi:10.1038/ncomms6999 View Publication