Monitoring the maturation of the sarcomere network: a super-resolution microscopy-based approach

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Anna Skorska - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Lisa Johann - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Oleksandra Chabanovska - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Praveen Vasudevan - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Sophie Kussauer - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Maximilian Hillemanns - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Markus Wolfien - , Institut für Medizinische Informatik und Biometrie, Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Anika Jonitz-Heincke - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Olaf Wolkenhauer - , Universität Rostock, University of Stellenbosch (Autor:in)
  • Rainer Bader - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Hermann Lang - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Robert David - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)
  • Heiko Lemcke - , Universität Rostock (Autor:in)

Abstract

The in vitro generation of human cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) is of great importance for cardiac disease modeling, drug-testing applications and for regenerative medicine. Despite the development of various cultivation strategies, a sufficiently high degree of maturation is still a decisive limiting factor for the successful application of these cardiac cells. The maturation process includes, among others, the proper formation of sarcomere structures, mediating the contraction of cardiomyocytes. To precisely monitor the maturation of the contractile machinery, we have established an imaging-based strategy that allows quantitative evaluation of important parameters, defining the quality of the sarcomere network. iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes were subjected to different culture conditions to improve sarcomere formation, including prolonged cultivation time and micro patterned surfaces. Fluorescent images of α-actinin were acquired using super-resolution microscopy. Subsequently, we determined cell morphology, sarcomere density, filament alignment, z-Disc thickness and sarcomere length of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Cells from adult and neonatal heart tissue served as control. Our image analysis revealed a profound effect on sarcomere content and filament orientation when iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes were cultured on structured, line-shaped surfaces. Similarly, prolonged cultivation time had a beneficial effect on the structural maturation, leading to a more adult-like phenotype. Automatic evaluation of the sarcomere filaments by machine learning validated our data. Moreover, we successfully transferred this approach to skeletal muscle cells, showing an improved sarcomere formation cells over different differentiation periods. Overall, our image-based workflow can be used as a straight-forward tool to quantitatively estimate the structural maturation of contractile cells. As such, it can support the establishment of novel differentiation protocols to enhance sarcomere formation and maturity.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer149
FachzeitschriftCellular and Molecular Life Sciences
Jahrgang79
Ausgabenummer3
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - März 2022
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

PubMed 35199227
ORCID /0000-0002-1887-4772/work/143075285

Schlagworte

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

Schlagwörter

  • iPSC cardiomyocytes, Maturation, Sarcomere network, Super resolution microscopy