Human Dupuytren's Ex Vivo Culture for the Study of Myofibroblasts and Extracellular Matrix Interactions

Summary

Dupuytren’s disease (DD) is a fibroproliferative disease of the palm of the hand. Here, we present a protocol to culture resection specimens from DD in a three-dimensional (3D) culture system. Such short-term culture system allows preservation of the 3D structure and molecular properties of the fibrotic tissue.

Abstract

Organ fibrosis or “scarring” is known to account for a high death toll due to the extensive amount of disorders and organs affected (from cirrhosis to cardiovascular diseases). There is no effective treatment and the in vitro tools available do not mimic the in vivo situation rendering the progress of the out of control wound healing process still enigmatic.

To date, 2D and 3D cultures of fibroblasts derived from DD patients are the main experimental models available. Primary cell cultures have many limitations; the fibroblasts derived from DD are altered by the culture conditions, lack cellular context and interactions, which are crucial for the development of fibrosis and weakly represent the derived tissue. Real-time PCR analysis of fibroblasts derived from control and DD samples show that little difference is detectable. 3D cultures of fibroblasts include addition of extracellular matrix that alters the native conditions of these cells.

As a way to characterize the fibrotic, proliferative properties of these resection specimens we have developed a 3D culture system, using intact human resections of the nodule part of the cord. The system is based on transwell plates with an attached nitrocellulose membrane that allows contact of the tissue with the medium but not with the plastic, thus, preventing the alteration of the tissue. No collagen gel or other extracellular matrix protein substrate is required. The tissue resection specimens maintain their viability and proliferative properties for 7 days. This is the first “organ” culture system that allows human resection specimens from DD patients to be grown ex vivo and functionally tested, recapitulating the in vivo situation.

Introduction

Dupuytren's disease (DD), a benign fibroproliferative disease causes permanent flexion of the fingers due to the formation of nodules and cords in the palm of the hand. Although the disease spread is particularly high among Caucasians of Northern Europe, the underlying genetic etiology of the disease remains unknown ¹. The main characteristic of DD is the excess production of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (e.g., collagen), which form a tough fibrous tissue occupying the space between the tendons and skin of the palm of the hand and fingers, permanently disrupting the fine movements of the hand ^{2, 3}. The recurrence of the diseas....

Protocol

This protocol follows the LUMC and AMC guidelines of human research ethics committee.

1. Surgical Procedure and Tissue Collection

Note: Although various techniques for surgical excision of Dupuytren’s contracture exist, the current gold standard is the partial fasciectomy ¹⁵. Most patients are treated in the day-surgery clinic.

1. Perform surgery under general or regional anesthesia according to patient's and anaesthesiologist's preferences and to patient’s co-morbidities. These considerations are beyond the scope of this paper. Prior to incision, touch the skin with a shar....

Results

The method of ex vivo, 3D culture of connective tissue is an easy and robust set up system to understand the relation between ECM and other cell components constituting the DD tissue and potentially other types of fibrosis as well. Moreover this system allows a reliable method to test the effects of compounds on different cell types and their effects on the fibrotic load ²⁰.

The steps from collection of surgical waste material derived from Dupuytren’s fibrosis, the assembly.......

Discussion

The most critical steps of culturing ex vivo human connective tissue are the immediate use of the tissue after surgical removal to ensure viability; the tissue should remain in medium or saline solution at all times; maintain a sterile culture; transverse sections of tissue should have maximum 200 µm thickness; set up of the ex vivo culture system is optimal when tissue is in contact with the medium but not fully submerged. Medium should be added only on the outside chamber of the transwell in a sm.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium	Invitrogen	11965-084
fetal calf serum (FCS)	Gibco		high glucose, heat inactivated
penicillin-streptomycin	Invitrogen	15070-063
Cell culture inserts	Millicell	PIHA01250	0.45 μm pore size, 12 mm diameter
anti-collagen type I	Southern Biotech	1310-08
anti-α smooth muscle actin	Sigma	A2547
anti-collagen type III	Southern Biotech	1330-01
Alexa Fluor555 Donkey Anti-Mouse IgG (H+L)	Invitrogen	A-31570
Alexa Fluor 488 Donkey Anti-Goat IgG (H+L) Antibody	Invitrogen	A-11055
TOPRO-3	Invitrogen	T3605
methylsalicylate	Sigma	M6752
paraformaldehyde	Sigma	P6148
Tissue Tek OCT	Sakura	25608-930
Microsccope glass coverslips	Menzel-Glaser	BB024060A1	24 x 60 mm
Microscope SuperFrost slides	Menzel-Glaser	AA00000102E	76 x 26 mm
VECTASHIELD HardSet Mounting Medium	Vector laboratories	H-1400
Leica TCS SP5 II confocal microscope	Leica Microsystems		Argon-488, 514 nm and HeNe-633 nm laser lines
Zeiss 710 NLO upright confocal microscope	Jena, Germany		Equipped with femtosecond Spectra - Physics Deep See MP laser (Santa Clara, United States) using a Plan-Apochromat 20X/1.0 NA water-immersion objective.