Construction of Defined Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues to Study Mechanisms of Cardiac Cell Therapy

Summary

This manuscript describes the creation of defined engineered cardiac tissues using surface marker expression and cell sorting. The defined tissues can then be used in a multi-tissue bioreactor to investigate mechanisms of cardiac cell therapy in order to provide a functional, yet controlled, model system of the human heart.

Abstract

Human cardiac tissue engineering can fundamentally impact therapeutic discovery through the development of new species-specific screening systems that replicate the biofidelity of three-dimensional native human myocardium, while also enabling a controlled level of biological complexity, and allowing non-destructive longitudinal monitoring of tissue contractile function. Initially, human engineered cardiac tissues (hECT) were created using the entire cell population obtained from directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells, which typically yielded less than 50% cardiomyocytes. However, to create reliable predictive models of human myocardium, and to elucidate mechanisms of heterocellular interaction, it is essential to accurately control the biological composition in engineered tissues.

To address this limitation, we utilize live cell sorting for the cardiac surface marker SIRPα and the fibroblast marker CD90 to create tissues containing a 3:1 ratio of these cell types, respectively, that are then mixed together and added to a collagen-based matrix solution. Resulting hECTs are, thus, completely defined in both their cellular and extracellular matrix composition.

Here we describe the construction of defined hECTs as a model system to understand mechanisms of cell-cell interactions in cell therapies, using an example of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) that are currently being used in human clinical trials. The defined tissue composition is imperative to understand how the hMSCs may be interacting with the endogenous cardiac cell types to enhance tissue function. A bioreactor system is also described that simultaneously cultures six hECTs in parallel, permitting more efficient use of the cells after sorting.

Introduction

Cardiac tissue engineering has advanced greatly in the last decade, with multiple groups publishing results of fully functional, beating tissues made from both murine cardiomyocytes^1-6 and, more recently, human stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes^7-12. The cardiac tissue engineering field is driven by two primary and essentially independent goals: 1) to develop exogenous grafts that can be transplanted into failing hearts to improve function^4-6; and 2) to develop in vitro models for studying physiology and disease, or as screening tools for therapeutic development^2,7.

Three-dimensional (3-D....

Protocol

Note: Perform all cell manipulations in aseptic conditions using a HEPA-filtered class II biological safety cabinet and sterilize all solutions by filtering them through a 0.2 µm filter. Perform tissue construction and function testing in either the same aseptic conditions or a laminar flow hood.

1. Seeding of H7 hESCs in Preparation for Cardiac Differentiation

1. (Day 1) Preparing the Basement Membrane Matrix
   1. Thaw 150 µl aliquot of hESC qualified basement membrane matrix on ice overnight at 4 °C.
2. (Day 0-4) Plating of hESCs on Coated Plates
   1. Dilute the thawed matrix into....

Results

To obtain cardiac myocytes, a slightly modified version of the Boheler and Lian differentiation methods is used^30,31. It is imperative that the differentiation starts during the log-phase of cell growth, but also that the starting population is sufficiently confluent to obtain a useable number of cells after sorting (approximately 75% is optimal). Typically, for H7 hESCs, plating at a density of 140,000 hESCs per well of a 6-well dish in essential 8 media and 5% CO₂ incubator maintained at 37 °C yie.......

Discussion

Construction of defined human engineered cardiac tissues (hECT) can provide a more consistent and reliable model of human cardiac myocyte function. Critically, all cellular and extracellular components in the system are known and can be manipulated as desired, thus removing the confounding influence of other unknown cell types resulting from the differentiation process. To balance rapid cell growth and high yield, it is preferable that the differentiation starts at 75% confluence of the hESCs, ideally four days after pla.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Cell Culture	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Amphotericin B	Sigma-Aldrich	A2411	Prepare a 2.5 mg/ml stock in DMSO and filter-sterilize
B27 with Insulin	Life Technologies	17505055
B27 without Insulin	Life Technologies	A1895601
CHIR99021	Stemgent	04-0004	Create 6 μM stock, then aliquot and store at -20 °C.
Essential 8 Media	Life Technologies	A1517001
H7 Human Embryonic Stem Cells	WiCell	WA07
hESC Qualified Matrix, Corning Matrigel	Corning	354277	Thaw on ice at 4 °C overnight then aliquot 150 μl into separate tubes and store at -20 °C.
IWR-1	Sigma-Aldrich	I0161	Create 10 mM stock and aliquot. Store at -20 °C
Neonatal Calf Serum	Life Technologies	16010159
Non-enzymatic Dissociation Reagent: Gentle Cell Dissociation Reagent	Stem Cell Technologies	7174
Penicillin-Streptomycin	Corning	30-002-CI
RPMI 1640	Life Technologies	11875-093	Keep refrigerated
Y-27632 (ROCK Inhibitor)	Stemgent	04-0012	Resuspend to a 10 mM stock concentration, aliquot and store at -20 °C. Avoid freeze thaw cycles.
Cell Sorting	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
4’,6-Diamidino-2-Phenylindole, Dihydrochloride (DAPI)	Life Technologies	D1306
CD90-FITC	BioLegend	328107
Enzymatic Dissociation Reagent: Cell Detach Kit I (0.04 % Trypsin/ 0.03% EDTA, Trypsin neutralization solution and Hanks Buffered Salt Solution)	PromoCell	C-41200
Fetal Bovine Serum	Atlanta Biologics	S11250
SIRPα-PE/Cy7	BioLegend	323807
Tissue Construction	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.25% Trypsin/0.1% EDTA	Fisher Scientific	25-053-CI	Optional: For collection of supplemental cells of interest
10x MEM	Sigma-Aldrich	M0275-100ML
10x PBS Packets	Sigma-Aldrich	P3813
Collagen, Bovine Type I	Life Technologies	A10644-01	Keep on ice
DMEM/F12	Life Technologies	11330057
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagles Medium (DMEM), High Glucose	Sigma-Aldrich	D5648
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)	Dow Corning	Sylgard 184
Sodium HEPES	Sigma-Aldrich	H3784
Sodium Hydroxide	Sigma-Aldrich	221465
Materials	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1.5 ml microcentrifuge tubes	Fisher Scientific	NC0536757
15 ml polyproylene centrifuge tube	Corning	352096
5 ml Polystyrene Round-Bottom Tube	Corning	352235	With integrated 35 μm cell strainer
50 ml polyproylene centrifuge tube	Corning	352070
6-well flat bottom tissue-culture treated plate	Corning	353046
Cell Scraper, Disposable	Biologix	70-2180
Polysulfone	McMaster-Carr
Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon)	McMaster-Carr
Equipment	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Dissecting Microscope	Olympus	SZ-61	Or similar, must have a mount for the high speed camera to attach
Electrical Pacing System	Astro-Med, Inc	Grass S88X Stimulator
High Speed Camera	Pixelink	PL-B741U	Or similar, but must be capable of 100 frames per second for accurate data acquisition
Plate Temperature Control			Used to maintain media temperature during data acqusition.
Custom Materials	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
LabView Post-tracking Program			available upon request from the authors