Neuromics' Human Brain Pericytes Guide Axon Growth

Study Interactions Between Blood Vessels and Nerve Cells
Our GFP-Labeled Human Brian Pericytes were used by Spinal Cord Injury Researchers to evaluate the efficacy of aligned microvessels to induce and control directional axon growth from neural progenitor cells in vitro and host axons in a rat spinal cord injury model. Interstitial fluid flow aligned microvessels generated from co-cultures of cerebral-derived endothelial cells and pericytes in a three-dimensional scaffold. Paul P. Partyka, Ying Jin, Julien Bouyer, Angelica DaSilva, George A. Godsey, Robert G. Nagele, Itzhak Fischer & Peter A. Galie (2019). Harnessing neurovascular interaction to guide axon growth. Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 2190. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38558-y

Axon guidance at the site of a cervical spinal cord injury in a rat model. (Ai) Schematic illustrating transplantation of scaffold into a C-4 hemisection. The injury cavity is shown prior to (ii) and immediately following (iii) transplantation. (Bi) Scaffold conditioned with flow exhibits viable GFP-labeled microvessels (green) (ii) and alignment of host axons (magenta) infiltrating the scaffold in the rostral-caudal direction (grey arrow). (C) Scaffold conditioned in static conditions showing disrupted alignment of both microvessels (ii) and host axons (iii). (D–F) Microvessel and axon plots showing alignment (D,E) and length (F). Scale bars, 1 mm (Aii,Aiii) and 50 μm (B,C). Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. ***P < 0.001; statistical significance was calculated using Welch Two Sample t-test. White arrows denote proximity of axons with microvessels. Microvessel alignment values (n = 30), axon alignment values (n = 30), microvessel length values (n = 15), and axon length values (n = 15) are from single hydrogel samples per condition.

The authors conclude aligned microvessels have the dual benefit of providing the basis for a vascular bed within the scaffold to promote cell survival and directing the growth of regenerating axons. Future studies will evaluate the functional benefit resulting from delivery of this multifunctional treatment strategy in various models of CNS injury.

Sorting Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs)

Featuring Our Colorectal CAFS
CAFs play a central role in the Tumor Microenvironment (TME). The TME has been identified as one of the driving factors of tumor progression and invasion. Inside this microenvironment, CAFs, a type of perpetually activated fibroblasts, have been implicated to have a strong tumor modulating effect and play a key role in areas such as drug resistance.

This makes CAFs a target for cancer therapies. The challenge is the TME is heterogeneous making it a challenge to derive homogeneously relevant populations for basic research and drug discovery. This new study uses our Colorectal CAFs to identify markers for isolating these populations. Martin Nurmik, Pit Ullmann, Fabien Rodriguez, Serge Haan, Elisabeth Letellier. In search of definitions: Cancer-associated fibroblasts and their markers. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32193.

Images: Expression of common markers in patient-derived fibroblasts. Immunofluorescent staining of primary colon cancer fibroblasts (Neuromics, #CAF05), reveals a heterogeneous expression pattern for both αSMA/ACTA2 (abcam #ab7817, 1/200) and FAP (Santa-Cruz Biotechnology #sc-65398, 1/200), while PDGFRα (abcam #ab61219, 1/200) expression in tested cells remains relatively homogenous. Nuclei of fibroblasts were stained using DAPI (DAPI Fluoromount-G® Mounting Medium). Image is representative of three independent biological experiments.Cells were imaged using a Zeiss LSM 510 Meta laser scanning confocal microscope (Carl Zeiss, Jena, Germany) with a Plan-Apochromat 63x/1.40.

The authors conclude when selecting for CAF populations using antibody-based methods such as FACS, it is essential that multiple surface markers are used in order to avoid any chance of introducing unintentional subtype bias. Other available surface markers such as PDGFRα/β work well here, as do more general fibroblast surface markers like Thy-1 cell surface antigen (CD90), provided that the cell population is also subjected to selection with negative markers,

Neuromics Human Cells at Work

Work Great in 3-D Assays

Neuromics Human Primary Cells are being used with increasing frequency in 3-D Cell-Based Assays. Last month, we posted a publication referencing use of our Human Pericytes in a Blood-Brain Barrier Model.

In this publication, our GFP-Labeled HUVECS are used in a 3-D Microfluidics Chip Model to study the impact of indoor airborne particles on human health. Yan Li, Chuanlin Hu, Pengcheng Wang, Yan Liu, Luyang Wang, Qingmeng Pi, Zhiyong Gong, Xu Yang, Michael Mak and Yang Wu (2019). Indoor nanoscale particulate matter-induced coagulation abnormality based on a human 3D microvascular model on a microfluidic chip. Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2019 17:20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-019-0458-2

Images: Development progress of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by 2D culture and 3D culture. a 2D HUVEC culture in a disk, b–e camera image of fluorescent HUVECs developed from day 1 to day 4. f 3D HUVEC culture in a chip, g–j camera image of fluorescent HUVECs developed from day 1 to day 4.

Remember, we have a 100% money back policy should the cells not work in your hands.