Studying the Epithelial Effects of Intestinal Inflammation In Vitro on Established Murine Colonoids

Summary

We describe a protocol detailing the isolation of murine colonic crypts for the development of 3-dimensional colonoids. The established colonoids can then be terminally differentiated to reflect the cellular composition of the host epithelium prior to receiving an inflammatory challenge or being directed to establish an epithelial monolayer.

Abstract

The intestinal epithelium plays an essential role in human health, providing a barrier between the host and the external environment. This highly dynamic cell layer provides the first line of defense between microbial and immune populations and helps to modulate the intestinal immune response. Disruption of the epithelial barrier is a hallmark of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and is of interest for therapeutic targeting. The 3-dimensional colonoid culture system is an extremely useful in vitro model for studying intestinal stem cell dynamics and epithelial cell physiology in IBD pathogenesis. Ideally, establishing colonoids from the inflamed epithelial tissue of animals would be most beneficial in assessing the genetic and molecular influences on disease. However, we have shown that in vivo epithelial changes are not necessarily retained in colonoids established from mice with acute inflammation. To address this limitation, we have developed a protocol to treat colonoids with a cocktail of inflammatory mediators that are typically elevated during IBD. While this system can be applied ubiquitously to various culture conditions, this protocol emphasizes treatment on both differentiated colonoids and 2-dimensional monolayers derived from established colonoids. In a traditional culture setting, colonoids are enriched with intestinal stem cells, providing an ideal environment to study the stem cell niche. However, this system does not allow for an analysis of the features of intestinal physiology, such as barrier function. Further, traditional colonoids do not offer the opportunity to study the cellular response of terminally differentiated epithelial cells to proinflammatory stimuli. The methods presented here provide an alternative experimental framework to address these limitations. The 2-dimensional monolayer culture system also offers an opportunity for therapeutic drug screening ex vivo. This polarized layer of cells can be treated with inflammatory mediators on the basal side of the cell and concomitantly with putative therapeutics apically to determine their utility in IBD treatment.

Introduction

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, remitting, and relapsing disease characterized by episodes of inflammation and clinical quiescence. The etiology of IBD is multifactorial, but key characteristic features of the disease include defective barrier function and increased permeability of the intestinal epithelium, in addition to proinflammatory signaling cascades activated within the epithelial compartment^1,2. Several in vitro and in vivo models have been used to recapitulate the epithelial response during IBD, including cell culture and murine models of inflammation

Protocol

All the experimentation using murine tissues described herein was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Pittsburgh and conducted in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Animal Research and Care Committee at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC.

1. Preparation for culture

NOTE: All the reagents are listed in the Table of Materials section and all solution compositions can be found in the solution composition table (Table 1).

1. Prepare mouse wash medium as described in Table 1. Store at 4°C for u....

Results

The 3D intestinal colonoid culture system is an invaluable tool to study the intrinsic contribution of the epithelium to intestinal mucosal homeostasis. The described protocol provides detailed instructions on how to isolate crypts from C57BL/6J (WT) mice at 8 weeks of age and establish a long-term colonoid culture system that can be manipulated for multiple downstream applications. Upon the isolation and plating of crypts in the basement membrane matrix, the crypts appear dense and multicellular in structure when visual.......

Discussion

Organoid development has revolutionized the way the scientific community studies organ systems in vitro with the ability to partially recapitulate cellular structure and function from an animal or human in a dish. Further, organoid systems derived from humans with diseases offer a promising tool for personalized medicine that could guide therapeutic decision-making. Here, we describes a crypt isolation protocol that works well and introduces key steps that allow for cleaning up excess debris in the isolatio.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.4-μM transparent transwell, 24-well	Greiner Bio-one	662-641
15-mL conical tubes	Thermo Fisher	12-565-269
50-mL conical tubes	Thermo Fisher	12-565-271
70-μM cell strainer	VWR	76327-100
Advanced DMEM/F12	Invitrogen	12634-010	Stock Concentration (1x); Final Concentration (1x)
B-27 supplement	Invitrogen	12587-010	Stock Concentration (50x); Final Concentration (1x)
Chopsticks Electrode Set for EVO	World Precision Instruments	STX2
Corning Matrigel GFR Membrane Mix	Corning	354-230	Stock Concentration (100%); Final Concentration (100%)
Dithiothreitol (DTT)	Sigma-Aldrich	D0632-5G	Stock Concentration (1 M); Final Concentration (1.5 mM); Solvent (ultrapure water)
DMEM high glucose	Thermo Fisher	11960-069	Stock Concentration (1x); Final Concentration (1x)
Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline without Calcium and Magnesium	Gibco	14190-144	Stock Concentration (1x); Final Concentration (1x)
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (ETDA)	Sigma-Aldrich	E7889	Stock Concentration (0.5 M); Final Concentration (30 mM)
Fetal Bovine Serum	Bio-Techne	S11150H	Stock Concentration (100%); Final Concentration (1%)
Fisherbrand Superfrost Plus Microscope Slides, White, 25 x 75 mm	Thermo Fisher	12-550-15
G418	InvivoGen	ant-ga-1	Final Concentration (400 µg/µL)
Gentamicin Reagent	Gibco/Fisher	15750-060	Stock Concentration (50 mg/mL); Final Concentration (250 μg/mL)
GlutaMAX-1	Fisher Scientific	35050-061	Stock Concentration (100x); Final Concentration (1x)
HEPES 1 M	Gibco	15630-080	Stock Concentration (1 M); Final Concentration (10 mM)
hIFNγ	R&D Systems	285-IF	Stock Concentration (1000 ng/µL); Final Concentration (10 ng/mL); Solvent (ultrapure water)
hIL-1β	R&D Systems	201-LB	Stock Concentration (10 ng/µL); Final Concentration (20 ng/mL); Solvent (ultrapure water)
hTNFα	R&D Systems	210-TA	Stock Concentration (10 ng/µL); Final Concentration (40 ng/mL); Solvent (ultrapure water)
Hydrogen Peroxide	Sigma	H1009	Stock Concentration (30%); Final Concentration (0.003%); Solvent (Mouse wash media)
Hygromycin B Gold	InvivoGen	ant-hg-1	Final Concentration (400 µg/µL)
L-WRN Cell Line	ATCC	CRL-3276
mEGF	Novus	NBP2-35176	Stock Concentration (0.5 µg/µL); Final Concentration (50 ng/mL); Solvent (D-PBS + 1% BSA)
N-2 supplement	Invitrogen	17502-048	Stock Concentration (100x); Final Concentration (1x)
N-Acetyl-L-cysteine	Sigma	A9165-5G	Stock Concentration (500 mM); Final Concentration (1 mM); Solvent (ultrapure water)
Noggin	Peprotech	250-38	Stock Concentration (0.1 ng/µL); Final Concentration (100 ng/mL); Solvent (UltraPure water + 0.1% BSA)
Penicillin-Streptomycin (10,000 U/mL)	Thermo Fisher	15140-122	Stock Concentration (100x); Final Concentration (1x)
Petri dishes (sterilized; 100 mm x 15 mm) Polystrene disposable	VWR	25384-342
Polystyrene Microplates, 24 well tissue culture treated, sterile	Greiner Bio-one	5666-2160
R-Spondin	R&D Systems	3474-RS-050	Stock Concentration (0.25 µg/µL); Final Concentration (500 ng/mL); Solvent (D-PBS + 1% BSA)
Tryp LE Express	Thermo Fisher	12604-013	Stock Concentration (10x); Final Concentration (1x); Solvent (1 mM EDTA)
UltraPure Water	Invitrogen	10977-023	Stock Concentration (1x); Final Concentration (1x)
Y-27632 dihyddrochloride	Abcam	ab120129	Stock Concentration (10 mM); Final Concentration (10 µM); Solvent (UltraPure Water)