Phenotypic Profiling of Human Stem Cell-Derived Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons

Summary

This protocol describes the cell culturing of human midbrain dopaminergic neurons, followed by immunological staining and the generation of neuronal phenotypic profiles from acquired microscopic high-content images allowing the identification of phenotypic variations due to genetic or chemical modulations.

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is linked to a range of cell biological processes that cause midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neuron loss. Many current in vitro PD cellular models lack complexity and do not take multiple phenotypes into account. Phenotypic profiling in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived mDA neurons can address these shortcomings by simultaneously measuring a range of neuronal phenotypes in a PD-relevant cell type in parallel. Here, we describe a protocol to obtain and analyze phenotypic profiles from commercially available human mDA neurons. A neuron-specific fluorescent staining panel is used to visualize the nuclear, α-synuclein, Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and Microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) related phenotypes. The described phenotypic profiling protocol is scalable as it uses 384-well plates, automatic liquid handling and high-throughput microscopy. The utility of the protocol is exemplified using healthy donor mDA neurons and mDA neurons carrying the PD-linked G2019S mutation in the Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene. Both cell lines were treated with the LRRK2 kinase inhibitor PFE-360 and phenotypic changes were measured. Additionally, we demonstrate how multidimensional phenotypic profiles can be analyzed using clustering or machine learning-driven supervised classification methods. The described protocol will particularly interest researchers working on neuronal disease modeling or studying chemical compound effects in human neurons.

Introduction

A variety of cell biological processes are disturbed in Parkinson's disease (PD). For example, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, protein degradation defects, disruption of vesicular trafficking and endolysosomal function have been associated with midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neuron loss, are commonly observed in PD¹. Therefore, PD appears to involve multiple disease mechanisms that can interact with and worsen each other. One useful way to investigate this mechanistic interplay is the creation of a comprehensive phenotypic fingerprint or profile of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons.

Phenotypic profiling i....

Protocol

1. Preparation of medium and plates for neuron seeding (Day 1)

1. To prepare the plates for neuron seeding on Day-1, warm Laminin to room temperature (RT) just before use. Prepare the Laminin solution by diluting the Laminin stock solution (0.1 mg/mL) 1/10 in cold PBS+/+ (with Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺).
   NOTE: All reagents are listed in the Table of Materials. The compositions of solutions and buffers are described in Tables 1-4.
2. Then, add 25 µL of the Laminin solution to each well of a Poly-D-Lysine (PDL) precoated 384-well plate, and incubate overnight at 4 °C. The coate....

Results

Phenotypic profiling in mDA neurons is an efficient way to quantify multiple aspects of cellular biology and their changes during the experimental modulation. To exemplify this methodology, this study made use of cryopreserved LRRK2 G2019S and healthy donor mDA neurons. These neurons have been differentiated for approximately 37 days, are post-mitotic and express neuronal markers (TUBB3 and MAP2) and dopaminergic neuron markers, including tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in combination with FOXA2, while the glial marker Glial F.......

Discussion

Phenotypic profiling is a technique to measure a large number of phenotypes in cells by applying fluorescent stainings, microscopy, and image analysis³. Phenotypic profiles can be obtained and compared across cell lines or other experimental conditions to understand complex changes in cellular biology that might go unnoticed when using a single readout. Here we describe the application of phenotypic profiling to human iPSC-derived mDA neurons, a cell type frequently used to model PD cellular biolo.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Anti- chicken – Alexa 647	Jackson ImmunoRearch	703-605-155	Immunofluorescence
Anaconda		https://www.anaconda.com/download
Anti-Map2	Novus	NB300-213	Immunofluorescence
Anti-mouse - Alexa 488	Thermo Fisher	A11001	Immunofluorescence
Anti-rabbit - Alexa 555	Thermo Fisher	A21429	Immunofluorescence
Anti-Tyrosine Hydroxylase	Merck	T2928	Immunofluorescence
Anti-α-synuclein	Abcam	138501	Immunofluorescence
Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform with 384ST head	Agilent		If no liquid handler is available, the use of an electronic multichannel pipette is recommended.
Confocal microscope	Yokogawa	CV7000	The use of an automated confocal fluorescence microscope is recommended to ensure image quality consistency.
Countess Automated cell counter	Invitrogen		Cell counting before seeding. Can also be done using a manual counting chamber.
DPBS +/+	Gibco	14040-133	Buffer for washing
EL406 Washer Dispenser	BioTek (Agilent)		If no liquid handler is available, the use of an electronic multichannel pipette is recommended.
Formaldehyde Solution (PFA 16 %)	Euromedex	EM-15710-S	Fixation before staining
Hoechst 33342	Invitrogen	H3570	Nuclear staining
iCell Base Medium 1	Fujifilm	M1010	Base medium for neurons
iCell DPN, Donor#01279, Phenotype AHN, lot#106339, 1M	Fujifilm	C1087	Apparently healthy donor
iCell DPN, Donor#11299, Phenotype LRRK2 G2019S, phenotype PD lot#106139	Fujifilm	C1149	Donor carrying LRRK2 G2019S mutation
iCell Nervous System Supplement	Fujifilm	M1031	Supplement for base medium
iCell Neural Supplement B	Fujifilm	M1029	Supplement for base medium
Jupyter Python Notebook	In-house development	https://github.com/Ksilink/Notebooks/tree/main/Neuro/DopaNeuronProfiling	Notebook to perform phenotypic profile visualization and classification from raw data.
Laminin	Biolamina	LN521	Plate coating
PFE-360	MedChemExpress	HY-120085	LRRK2 kinase inhibitor
PhenoLink	In-house development	https://github.com/Ksilink/PhenoLink	Software for image analysis
PhenoPlate 384w, PDL coated	Perkin Elmer	6057500	Pre-coated plate for cell culture and imaging. This plate allows imaging of all wells using all objectives of the Yokogawa CV7000 microscope.
Storage plates Abgene 120 µL	Thermo Scientific	AB-0781	Necessary for compound dispensing using the Vprep pipetting system. If not available, the use of an electronic multichannel pipette is recommended.
Triton	Sigma	T9284	Permeabilization before lysis
Trypan Blue	Sigma	T8154-20ML	Determination of living cells
Vprep Pipetting System	Agilent		Medium change and compound dispensing. Alternatively, an electronic multichannel pipette can be used.