Neuro-Toxicity Co-Culture

Poster Presentation at Society of Toxicologist Annual Meeting 2015.

As part of Neuromics' strategic selling partnership with ArunA Biomedical. We are attending the SOT 2015 meeting in San Diego, CA.

I am particular excited about our getting the word out on our solutions via poster presentations. Here's the line up:

“In-vitro Human Developmental Neurotoxicity Screening Using Multiple Cell Types"

Anirban Majumder¹, Xian Wu^2,3, Shelley Wallace¹, Jane Le¹, Steven L. Stice^1,2,3

 ¹ArunA Biomedical, Inc. Athens, GA, USA, ²Regenerative Bioscience Center, ³Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Abstract Number/Poster Board number: 636 Poster Board -443

Presentation: March 23, 2015 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM, CC Exhibit Hall 

“Mouse Pluripotent Stem Cell Motor Neurons Generate Robust Neural Network Activity on Microelectrode Arrays"

Steven L. Stice^1,2 Anirban Majumder¹, Brad Culp¹, Anthony M. Nicolini³ and Colin Arrowood³

 Aruna Biomedical Inc. ¹, Regenerative Bioscience Center, Univ. of Georgia, Athens GA. ², Axion BioSystems, Atlanta, GA³

Abstract Number/Poster Board number: 279 Poster Board - 450

Presentation: March 23, 2015 from 9:00 to 12:00 CC Exhibit Hall

 “Bisphenol-A effects on in vitro Human Neural Development was Window of Susceptibility dependent"

Xian Wu^1,2, Anirban Majumder³, Steven L. Stice^1,2,3

¹Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, ²Regenerative Bioscience Center, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA  ³ArunA Biomedical, Inc. Athens, GA, USA  

Abstract Number/Poster Board number: 249 Poster Board - 415

Presentation: March 23, 2015 from 9:00 to 12:00 CC Exhibit Hall

“MR Imaging of Human Neural Progenitor Stem Cells: An In Vivo Longitudinal Model "

Forrest Goodfellow, Qingying Ming, Xian Wu, Erin Jordan, Qun Zhao, Steve Stice

Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

Abstract Number/Poster Board number: 641 Poster Board -448

Presentation: March 23, 2015 from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM CC Exhibit Hall 

"Using Human-Derived Neural Cells As an In Vitro Model for Developmental Neurotoxicity following Exposure to Pesticides"

Mary Smith^1,2 , Mayowa Amosu¹ , Xiaoming Bian¹ , Kun Lu¹ , Steven Stice^2,4 , William Henderson³ , Shelley Wallace⁴ Anirban Majumder⁴

¹Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States; ² Regenerative Bioscience Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States; ³ ORD/NERL/ERD, U.S. EPA, Athens, Georgia, United States; ⁴ ArunA Biomedical, Inc., Athens, Georgia, United States

Abstract Number/Poster Board number: 1747 Poster Board - 152

Presentation: March 23, 2015 from 9:00AM  to 12:00 PM 

More to follow...

Healthy and Happy Neuron/Astrocytes Cultures

A Track Record of Customer Success

Neuromics is  recognized for the quality of  hNP1™ Human Neural Progenitor,  hN2™ Neuron Discovery Kits, E18 and E20 Rat Primary Neurons and E18 Rat Primary Astroglia. As the company owner, it is important that I keep my finger on the pulse of how well they work for each and every unique application. I personally follow up with each user and if there are any issues, we replace the cells once free of charge. Your success is critical to our growth.

I wanted to share with you recent references. These give and excellent snapshot of the exciting ways our cells can used. Alexzander Asea, Punit Kaur, Alexander Panossian, Karl Georg Wikman, Evaluation of molecular chaperons Hsp72 and neuropeptide Y as characteristic markers of adaptogenic activity of plant extracts. Phytomedicine, Available online 6 August 2013, ISSN 0944-7113, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2013.07.001
...using trypan blue exclusion test and routinely found to contain less than ;5% dead cells. Primary human neurons were purchased from Neuromics (Edina, MN)...

Images: Micropictograph of primary culture from micro-dissected hippocampus. (A) Neurons are round and healthy 1 h after plating on poly-d-lysine substrate. (B) Five days in culture, neurons remain healthy and have extended processes. Magnification 60×. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2013.07.001

Todd GK, Boosalis CA, Burzycki AA, Steinman MQ, Hester LD, et al. (2013) Towards Neuronal Organoids: A Method for Long-Term Culturing of High-Density Hippocampal Neurons. PLoS ONE 8(4): e58996. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058996
... a protocol that allows for culturing of E18 hippocampal neurons at high densities for more than 120 days. These cultured hippocampal neurons are (i) well differentiated with high numbers of synapses, (ii) anchored securely to their substrate, (iii) have high levels of functional connectivity, and (iv) form dense multi-layered cellular networks. We propose that our culture methodology is likely to be effective for multiple neuronal subtypes–particularly those that can be grown in Neurobasal/B27 media. This methodology presents new avenues for long-term functional studies in neurons...
Xiugong Gao, Hsiuling Lin, Radharaman Ray, Prabhati Ray. Toxicogenomic Studies of Human Neural Cells Following Exposure to Organophosphorus Chemical Warfare Nerve Agent VX. Neurochemical Research. February 2013.
...Human hN2 neurons were obtained from Neuromics...

Image: Staining of hN2 Human Neurons with Tuj 1 (Neuron-specific class III beta-tubulin) (red) and Nestin (green). Counter stained with DAPI (blue). hN2 Cells-Electro Phys Data. 

Xiufang Guo, Severo Spradling, Maria Stancescu, Stephen Lambert, James J. Hickman. Derivation of sensory neurons and neural crest stem cells from human neural progenitor hNP1. Biomaterials, In Press, Corrected Proof,Mar 2013.doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.02.061
...hNP1, were obtained from Neuromics (Edina, Minnesota)...
Wei Zhang , Radhia Benmohamed, Anthony C. Arvanites, Richard I. Morimoto, Robert J. Ferrante, Donald R. Kirsch, Richard B. Silverman. Cyclohexane 1,3-diones and their inhibition of mutant SOD1-dependent protein aggregation and toxicity in PC12 cells. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.bmc.2011.11.039.
...Primary rat cortical tissue was purchased from Neuromics Inc., Edina, MN and used to initiate primary cortical neuron cultures. The tissue was isolated from micro-surgically dissected E18 embryonic Sprague/Dawley or Fischer 344 rat brain and shipped in a nutrient rich medium under refrigeration. To isolate neurons, the tissue was incubated with papain at a concentration of 2 mg/mL in Hibernate without calcium for 30 min at 37^OC. The enzymatic solution was then removed, and 1 mL of culture media (Neurobasal, B27, 0.5 mM glutamine) was added. A sterile Pasteur pipette was used to gently disperse the cells, which were then washed, re-suspended and counted. The cells were plated on poly-D-lysine coated 96-well plates at a density of 20,000 cells/well and incubated at 37^OC in a 5% CO2-humidified atmosphere for 5 days prior to use in compound testing. By microscopic inspection, the resulting cultures consisted of app. 90% neurons...
Majumder A, Dhara SK, Swetenburg R, Mithani M, Cao K, Medrzycki M, Fan Y, Stice SL. Inhibition of DNA methyltransferases and histone deacetylases induces astrocytic differentiation of neural progenitors. Stem Cell Res. 2013 Jul;11(1):574-86. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2013.03.003. Epub 2013 Apr 2.
...Progenitor to Astrocytes Protocol: For astrocytic differentiation of hNP cells, neuronal differentiation media were supplemented with BMP2 (20 ng/mL) and combinations of Aza-C and TSA; Aza-C (500 nM), TSA (100 nM) and BMP2 (20 ng/mL) for 2 days, with one complete media change in between, followed by differentiation media supplemented with BMP2 but not with Aza-C or TSA. Cells were harvested prior to analysis at 5, 15 or 30 days of treatment or for cryopreservation at d6 or d10 of differentiation. For cryopreservation, cells were dissociated with Accutase™ and frozen in differentiation media containing10% DMSO. Viability was assessed at 30 days in Aza-C and TSA treated cultures by trypan blue exclusion, and datawas acquired using a Cellometer Auto T4® (Nexcelom Biosciences)...
Aparna Talekar, Antonello Pessi, and Matteo Porotto. Infection of primary neurons mediated by Nipah virus envelope proteins: Role of host target cells in antiviral action. J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.00452-11.
...Hippocampus, Cortex and Ventricular Cells (Neuromics)...

I will continue posting results here.

eSC Derived hNP1 Neural Progenitors Astrocytic Differentiation

Protocol for Driving hNP1^TM Human Neural Progenitors to Astrocytes

There is a great demand for an easy way to generate human astrocytes in culture. I am pleased to present a protocol for differentiating our hNP1 Cells to Astrocytes. This comes from my friend Dr. Steve Stice and his team at ArunA Biomedical and University of Georgia: Majumder A, Dhara SK, Swetenburg R, Mithani M, Cao K, Medrzycki M, Fan Y, Stice SL. Inhibition of DNA methyltransferases and histone deacetylases induces astrocytic differentiation of neural progenitors. Stem Cell Res. 2013 Jul;11(1):574-86. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2013.03.003. Epub 2013 Apr 2.

These enriched non-transformed human astrocyte progenitors will provide a critical cell source to further our understanding of how astrocytes play a pivotal role in neural function and development. Human neural progenitors derived from pluripotent embryonic stem cells and propagated in adherent serum-free cultures provide a fate restricted renewable source for quick production of neural cells; however, such cells are highly refractive to astrocytogenesis and show a strong neurogenic bias, similar to neural progenitors from the early embryonic central nervous system (CNS). We found that several astrocytic genes are hypermethylated in such progenitors potentially preventing generation of astrocytes and leading to the proneuronal fate of these progenitors. However, epigenetic modification by Azacytidine (Aza-C) and Trichostatin A (TSA), with concomitant signaling from BMP2 and LIF in neural progenitor cultures shifts this bias, leading to expression of astrocytic markers as early as 5days of differentiation, with near complete suppression of neuronal differentiation.

Images: Morphology and gene expression after 15 and 30 days of differentiation of cells with astrocytic treatment. Bright field images of hNP cells differentiated (A) with or (B) without astrocytic treatment. A and B compare morphology of cultured cells in treated vs. untreated differentiation at 15 days. Treated and untreated cells were cryopreserved at d6 and subsequently thawed and cultured for an additional 9 days. Flow cytometry analysis to determine percent of GFAP+ and S100B+ cells at d15 of differentiation. Data is presented as histograms for (C) GFAP and (D) S100B with corresponding immunoreactive cells in insets from a parallel culture. Immunocytochemistry detects expression of (E) GFAP with S100B (inset showing distinct staining for both markers), (F) GFAP with GLAST, and (G) GFAP with ALDH1L1 at d30 of differentiation.

The Protocol:  For astrocytic differentiation of hNP cells, neuronal differentiation media were supplemented with BMP2 (20 ng/mL) and combinations of Aza-C and TSA; Aza-C (500 nM), TSA (100 nM) and BMP2 (20 ng/mL) for 2 days, with one complete media change in between, followed by differentiation media supplemented with BMP2 but not with Aza-C or TSA. Cells were harvested prior to analysis at 5, 15 or 30 days of treatment or for cryopreservation at d6 or d10 of differentiation. For cryopreservation, cells were dissociated with Accutase™ and frozen in differentiation media containing10% DMSO. Viability was assessed at 30 days in Aza-C and TSA treated cultures by trypan blue exclusion, and datawas acquired using a Cellometer Auto T4® (Nexcelom Biosciences).

I will keep you updated on new differentiation protocols for our potent, pure and widely used hNP1 Human Neural Progenitors to new phenotypes.

hNP1™ Human Neural Progenitors Video Protocols

Video Protocols designed to insure your success with our hNP1^TM Human Neural Progenitors

hNP1™ Human Neural Progenitors Video Protocols

Thawing, Culturing and Transfer-Sub Culturing Protocols.