Measuring the Confluence of iPSCs Using an Automated Imaging System

Summary

The goal of the protocol is to compare different extracellular matrix (ECM) coating conditions to assess how differential coating affects the growth rate of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In particular, we aim to set up conditions to obtain optimal growth of iPSC cultures.

Abstract

This study focuses on understanding how growing iPSCs on different ECM coating substrates can affect cell confluence. A protocol to assess iPSC confluence in real time has been established without the need to count cells in single cell suspension to avoid any growth perturbation. A high-content image analysis system was used to assess iPCS confluence on 4 different ECMs over time in an automated manner. Different analysis settings were used to assess cell confluence of adherent iPSCs and only a slight difference (at 24 and 48 hours with laminin) has been observed whether a 60, 80 or 100% mask was applied. We also show that laminin lead to the best confluence compared to Matrigel, vitronectin and fibronectin.

Introduction

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are obtained from somatic cells and can be differentiated into different cell types. They are often used as a system to model disease pathogenesis or perform drug screening, and also offer the potential to be used in the context of personalized medicine. Since iPSCs have great potential, it is important to fully characterize them for use as a reliable model system. We previously showed the importance of growing iPSCs in a hypoxic environment as these cells rely on glycolysis and an aerobic environment can cause redox imbalance¹. iPSCs are also vulnerable to other culture conditions, particularly the extrac....

Protocol

1. Coating 96 well plates

NOTE: Different coatings were tested in the same plate but separate wells (see Supplemental File).

1. Dilute the Matrigel 1:100 in DMEM. Add 100 µL per well to the 96 well plates and incubate for 1 h at room temperature. Following this, remove the solution and wash the wells with 100  µL of DMEM twice.
2. Dilute laminin (20 µg/mL, LN-521) in PBS (with calcium and magnesium). Add 100 µL to the well and incubate at 4 °C overnight. The following day perform two washes with DMEM before seeding the cells.
3. Dilute vitronectin (10 µg/mL) in ....

Results

In this study, we investigated iPSCs confluence when grown on different coating conditions. Using a cytometer, we were able to obtain readily informative results in triplicates in 5 days. Since iPSCs hardly attach to plastic vessels and a coating is necessary to support their proliferation, we decided to monitor the confluence of human iPSCs as it is indicative of the health of the cell culture and it may reflect on their differentiation potential. After in vitro expansion, we seeded the iPSCs on different ECM substrates.......

Discussion

The use of iPSCs for disease modeling and future drug screening together with their possible application in precision medicine makes it a technology of great relevance and for this reason we believe that it is necessary to clearly understand the in vitro culturing condition that better resemble the physiological situation of embryonic stem cells. In this context, we tested different ECM coatings using wild type iPSCs in order to understand the conditions that allow the cells to remain in a healthy and undifferentiat.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
10 mL Stripette Serological Pipets, Polystyrene, Individually Paper/Plastic Wrapped, Sterile	Corning	4488	Tool
15 mL high-clarity polypropylene (PP) conical centrifuge tubes	Falcon	352097	Tool
1x PBS (With Ca2+; Mg2+)	Thermofisher	14040133	Medium
1x PBS (without Ca2+; Mg2+)	Euroclone	ECB4004L	Medium
5 mL Stripette Serological Pipets, Polystyrene, Individually Paper/Plastic Wrapped, Sterile	Corning	4487	Tool
Cell culture microplate, 96 WELL, PS, F-Bottom	Greiner Bio One	655090	Support
Cell culture plate, 6 well	Costar	3516	Support
DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium- high glucose)	Sigma	D5671	Medium
EDTA	Sigma	ED4SS-500g	Reagent
Epi Episomal iPSC Reprogramming Kit	Invitrogen	A15960	Reagent
FAST - READ 102	Biosigma	BVS100	Tool
Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)	Gibco	10270106	Medium
Fibronectin	Merck	FC010	Coating
Glycerol	Sigma	G5516	Reagent
H2O		MILLIQ
Hoechst	Thermofisher	33342	Reagent
Laminin 521	Stem Cell Technologies	77003	Coating
L-Glutamine (200 mM)	Gibco	LS25030081	Reagent
Matrigel	Corning Matrigel hESC-Qualified Matrix	354277	Coating
Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF)	Life Technologies	A24903	Coating
MTESR1 Medium	Stem Cell Technologies	85851	Medium
MTESR1 Supplement	Stem Cell Technologies	85852	Medium
Penicillin-Streptomycin (10,000 U/mL)	Gibco	15140122	Reagent
Phalloidin	Sigma	P1951	Reagent
Vitronectin	Stem Cell Technologies	7180	Coating
Y-27632	Sigma	Y0503	Reagent