Assessment of Cellular Bioenergetics in Mouse Hematopoietic Stem and Primitive Progenitor Cells using the Extracellular Flux Analyzer

Summary

The method presented here summarizes optimized protocols for assessing cellular bioenergetics in non-adherent mouse hematopoietic stem and primitive progenitor cells (HSPCs) using the extracellular flux analyzer to measure the extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of HSPCs in real time.

Abstract

Under steady state, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) remain largely quiescent and are believed to be predominantly reliant on glycolysis to meet their energetic needs. However, under stress conditions such as infection or blood loss, HSCs become proliferative and rapidly produce downstream progenitor cells, which in turn further differentiate, ultimately producing mature blood cells. During this transition and differentiation process, HSCs exit from quiescence and rapidly undergo a metabolic switch from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation (OxPHOS). Various stress conditions, such as aging, cancer, diabetes, and obesity, can negatively impact mitochondrial function and thus can alter the metabolic reprogramming and differentiation of HSCs and progenitors during hematopoiesis. Valuable insights into glycolytic and mitochondrial functions of HSCs and progenitors under normal and stress conditions can be gained through the assessment of their extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) and oxygen consumption rate (OCR), which are indicators of cellular glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, respectively.

Here, a detailed protocol is provided to measure ECAR and OCR in mouse bone marrow-derived lineage-negative cell populations, which include both hematopoietic stem and primitive progenitor cells (HSPCs), using the extracellular flux analyzer. This protocol describes approaches to isolate lineage-negative cells from mouse bone marrow, explains optimization of cell seeding density and concentrations of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG, a glucose analog that inhibits glycolysis) and various OxPHOS-targeted drugs (oligomycin, FCCP, rotenone, and antimycin A) used in these assays, and describes drug treatment strategies. Key parameters of glycolytic flux, such as glycolysis, glycolytic capacity, and glycolytic reserve, and OxPHOS parameters, such as basal respiration, maximal respiration, proton leak, ATP production, spare respiratory capacity, and coupling efficiency, can be measured in these assays. This protocol allows ECAR and OCR measurements on non-adherent HSPCs and can be generalized to optimize analysis conditions for any type of suspension cells.

Introduction

Hematopoiesis is the process by which various types of mature blood cells with highly specialized functions are formed from HSCs¹. HSCs are capable of self-renewal and differentiation into various multipotent and lineage-specific progenitor populations. These progenitors ultimately produce cells of lymphoid, myeloid, erythroid, and megakaryocyte lineages. To maintain their self-renewal capacity, HSCs remain largely quiescent and, like other tissue stem cells, are believed to rely on glycolysis rather than mitochondrial OxPHOS for ATP production^2,3. Entry into the cell cycle leads to enh....

Protocol

All vertebrate animal experiments were approved by and performed in accordance with the regulations of the University of Michigan Committee on Use and Care of Animals.

1. Day before the assay (Total time: ~10 min)

1. Hydration of the sensor cartridge (Step time: ~10 min)
   1. Open the extracellular flux assay kit and remove the sensor cartridge and utility plate assembly. Save loading guide flats for use the next day.
   2. Manually separate the sensor cartridge (the top green part with lid) from the utility plate (lower 96-well microplate) and place it upside-down next to the utility plate.
   3. Using a multichan....

Results

Using this protocol, the cell number and the concentrations of various OxPHOS-targeting drugs (used in the extracellular flux assays) were optimized to measure ECAR and OCR of HSPCs isolated from 24-week-old female C57BL/6 mice. First, the glycolysis stress test was performed to optimize cell number and oligomycin concentration. A varying number of HSPCs per well ranging from 5 × 10⁴ to 2.5 × 10⁵ were used in this assay. As shown in Figure 2A and Fi.......

Discussion

This method paper describes an optimized protocol for the assessment of cellular bioenergetics (glycolysis and OxPHOS) in mouse HSPCs using the Seahorse extracellular flux analyzer. This device is a powerful tool that simultaneously measures the ECAR and OCR of live cells, which are metrics of glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, respectively. Thus, it can be used to assess the cellular bioenergetics in real time. Further, the 96-well microplate-based platform offers high-throughput quantification with high sensitiv.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.2 μm filter	Corning	430626	Used to filter-sterilize the assay media
100 mM sodium pyruvate	Life Technologies	11360-070	Component of mitochondrial stress test assay medium
15 mL conical Falcon tubes	Corning	352096	Used during HSPCs harvest and to prepare assay drug solutions
200 mM L-glutamine	Life Technologies	25030-081	Component of glycolysis stress test and mitochondrial stress test assay media
2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG)	Sigma-Aldrich	D8375	3rd drug injection during glycolysis stress test
5x Enrichment buffer (MojoSort)	Biolegend	480017	Used for washings during HSPCs harvest
Ammonium chloride (NH4Cl)	Fisher Scientific	A661-3	Component of ACK lysis buffer
Antimycin A	Sigma-Aldrich	A8674	3rd drug injection during mitochondrial stress test
Bio-Rad DC protein assay kit	Bio-Rad	500-0112	Used as per manufacturer's instructions
Carbonyl cyanide-4 (trifluoromethoxy) phenylhydrazone (FCCP)	Sigma-Aldrich	C2920	2nd drug injection during mitochondrial stress test
Cell-Tak	Corning	354240	Cell adhesive. Used for coating cell microplates
Countes 3 Automated Cell Counter	ThermoFisher Scientific		For cell counting
EDTA	Fisher Scientific	O2793-500	Component of ACK lysis buffer and RIPA lysis buffer
Falcon 70 μm filter	Fisher Scientific	08-771-2	Used as cells strainer during HSPCs harvest
Gibco Fetal bovine serum (FBS)	Fisher Scientific	26400044	Used to prepare assay buffer during HSPCs harvest
Gibco HBSS	Fisher Scientific	14175095	Used to prepare assay buffer during HSPCs harvest
Glucose	Sigma-Aldrich	G7528	Component of mitochondrial stress test assay medium and first injection of glycolysis stress test
Oligomycin	Sigma-Aldrich	O4876	2nd drug injection during glycolysis stress test and 1st drug injection during mitochondrial stress test
PBS	Life Technologies	10010-049	Used to wash cells after assay for protein quantification
Potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3)	Fisher Scientific	P235-500	Component of ACK lysis buffer
Protease Inhibitor Cocktail (PIC)	Roche	11836170001	Supplied as tablets. One tablet was dissolved in 10 mL of RIPA buffer to make 1x PIC.
Rat biotin antimouse-B220, Clone ID: RA3-6B2	Biolegend	103203	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rat biotin antimouse-CD2, Clone ID: RM2-5	Biolegend	100103	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rat biotin antimouse-CD3, Clone ID: 17A2	Biolegend	100243	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rat biotin antimouse-CD5, Clone ID: 53-7.3	Biolegend	100603	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rat biotin antimouse-CD8, Clone ID: 53-6.7	Biolegend	100703	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rat biotin antimouse-Gr-1, Clone ID: RB6-8C5	Biolegend	108403	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rat biotin antimouse-Ter-119, Clone ID: TER-119	Biolegend	116203	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Rotenone	Sigma-Aldrich	R8875	3rd drug injection during mitochondrial stress test
Seahorse XFe96 extracellular flux analyzer	Seahorse Biosciences now Agilent		For ECAR and OCR measurments in real time.
Sodium bicarbonate	Sigma-Aldrich	S5761	Used to make Cell-adhesive solution for microplate coating
Sodium chloride (NaCl)	Fisher	BP358	Component of RIPA lysis buffer
Sodium deoxycholate	Sigma-Aldrich	D6750	Component of RIPA lysis buffer
Sodium Fluoride (NaF)	Sigma-Aldrich	S7920	Component of RIPA lysis buffer
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)	Sigma-Aldrich	S8045	Prepared 1 N solution. Used for pH normalization
Streptavidin Nanobeads (MojoSort)	Biolegend	480015	Used for lineage depletion during HSPCs harvest
Tris-HCl	Fisher	BP153	Component of RIPA lysis buffer
XF base medium	Agilent	102353-100	base medium used to prepare glycolysis stress test and mitochondrial stress test assay media
XF prep station	Seahorse Biosciences		Used for non-CO2 37 °C incubations
XFe96 extracellular FluxPak	Agilent	102416-100 or 102601-100	Includes assay cartridges with utility plates, loading guide flats for loading drugs onto the assay cartridge, XF calibrant solution, and XF cell culture microplate