A Fluorescence-based Assay for Characterization and Quantification of Lipid Droplet Formation in Human Intestinal Organoids

Summary

This protocol describes an assay for the characterization of lipid droplet (LD) formation in human intestinal organoids upon stimulation with fatty acids. We discuss how this assay is used for quantification of LD formation, and how it can be used for high throughput screening for drugs that affect LD formation.

Abstract

Dietary lipids are taken up as free fatty acids (FAs) by the intestinal epithelium. These FAs are intracellularly converted into triglyceride (TG) molecules, before they are packaged into chylomicrons for transport to the lymph or into cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) for intracellular storage. A crucial step for the formation of LDs is the catalytic activity of diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGAT) in the final step of TG synthesis. LDs are important to buffer toxic lipid species and regulate cellular metabolism in different cell types. Since the human intestinal epithelium is regularly confronted with high concentrations of lipids, LD formation is of great importance to regulate homeostasis. Here we describe a simple assay for the characterization and quantification of LD formation (LDF) upon stimulation with the most common unsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid, in human intestinal organoids. The LDF assay is based on the LD-specific fluorescent dye LD540, which allows for quantification of LDs by confocal microscopy, fluorescent plate reader, or flow cytometry. The LDF assay can be used to characterize LD formation in human intestinal epithelial cells, or to study human (genetic) disorders that affect LD metabolism, such as DGAT1 deficiency. Furthermore, this assay can also be used in a high-throughput pipeline to test novel therapeutic compounds, which restore defects in LD formation in intestinal or other types of organoids.

Introduction

Lipids are a crucial component of the human diet and play an important role in systemic energy storage and metabolism. When ingested, dietary lipids are degraded into free fatty acids (FFAs) and monoglycerides (MGs) by pancreatic lipases. These substrates are then taken up by the enterocytes of the intestinal epithelium, where they are first re-esterified to diglycerides (DG) by monoglyceride acyltransferases (MGAT) enzymes and subsequently to triglycerides (TG) by diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1)¹. Finally, these TGs are integrated into either chylomicrons for export to the lymph system or cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) for intracellul....

Protocol

All experimentation using human tissues described herein was approved by the ethical committee at University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU). Informed consent for tissue collection, generation, storage, and use of the organoids was obtained from patients at the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital (WKZ)-UMCU.

1. Preparation of Culture Media

NOTE: This protocol should be performed inside a biosafety cabinet. The organoids should be handled according to standard cell culture guidelines.

1. Prepare basal culture medium.
   NOTE: Culture medium without growth factors is refe....

Results

For proper analysis of LD formation, the organoids should not be seeded too densely prior to stimulation with OA and subsequent staining. This is especially of importance for the confocal and plate reader readout, since overlapping organoids might interfere with the fluorescence. An example of proper organoid seeding density (Figure 1A) and a culture with overlapping organoids is shown (Figure 1B.......

Discussion

Here, we provide a protocol to determine LD formation in human intestinal organoids upon incubation with oleic acid. This method is based on the LD-specific fluorescent dye LD540¹⁸, which allows for characterization and quantification of the total volume of lipid droplets within an organoid culture. The procedures to establish and maintain human intestinal organoid cultures have been published before¹³, and a visual guide of this protocol is available as well

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Advanced DMEM/F12	Gibco	12634-028
B27 supplement	Gibco	17504-044
Basement membrane matrix (matrigel)	BD Biosciences	356231
DAPI	Sigma-Aldrich	D9542-1MG
DGAT1 inhibitor (AZD 3988)	Tocris Bioscience	4837/10
Fatty acid free BSA	Sigma-Aldrich	A7030
Formaldehyde	Klinipath	4078-9001
Glutamin (GlutaMAX, 100x)	Gibco	15630-056
HEPES (1 M)	Gibco	15630-080
Laser scanning confocal microscope	Leica	SP8X
LD540			kindly provided by Dr. B. Spee, Utrecht University
mEGF	Peprotech	315-09_500ug
N-acetyl cysteine	Sigma-Aldrich	A9165-100G
Nicotinamide	Sigma-Aldrich	N0636-500G
Noggin producing cells (HEK293-mNoggin-Fc cells)			MTA with J. den Hertog, Hubrecht Institute
Oleic acid	Sigma-Aldrich	O1008-5G
p38 MAPK inhibitor (p38i) (SB202190)	Sigma-Aldrich	S7067-25MG
PBS	Sigma-Aldrich	D8662-500ML
PBS without Ca2+/Mg2+	Sigma-Aldrich	D8537-500ML
Penicillin-Streptomycin (5,000 U/mL)	Gibco	15070-063
R-spondin producing cells (Cultrex HA-R-Spondin1-Fc 293T Cells)	R&D systems	3710-001-01
TC-treated 24 well plates	Greiner-One	662160
TC-treated black clear-bottom 96 well plates	Corning Life Sciences	353219
TGFb type I receptor inhibitor (A83-01)	Tocris Bioscience	2939/10
Trypsin (TrypLE Express)	Life Technologies	12604021
WNT-3A producing cells (L-Wnt-3A cells)			MTA with J. den Hertog, Hubrecht Institute
Y-27632 dihydrochloride (Rho kinase inhibitor)	Abcam	ab120129-10