An in vitro workflow of neuron-laden agarose-laminin hydrogel for studying small molecule-induced amyloidogenic condition

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 26;17(8):e0273458. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273458. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

In vitro studies have been popularly used to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms for many decades. However, the traditional two-dimension (2D) cell culture which grows cells on a flat surface does not fully recapitulate the pathological phenotypes. Alternatively, the three-dimension (3D) cell culture provides cell-cell and cell-ECM interaction that better mimics tissue-like structure. Thus, it has gained increasing attention recently. Yet, the expenses, time-consuming, and complications of cellular and biomolecular analysis are still major limitations of 3D culture. Herein, we describe a cost-effective and simplified workflow of the 3D neuronal cell-laden agarose-laminin preparation and the isolation of cells, RNAs, and proteins from the scaffold. To study the effects of the amyloidogenic condition in neurons, we utilized a neuron-like cell line, SH-SY5Y, and induced the amyloidogenic condition by using an amyloid forty-two inducer (Aftin-4). The effectiveness of RNAs, proteins and cells isolation from 3D scaffold enables us to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying amyloidogenic cascade in neuronal cells. The results show that SH-SY5Y cultured in agarose-laminin scaffold differentiated to a mature TUJ1-expressing neuron cell on day 7. Furthermore, the gene expression profile from the Aftin-4-induced amyloidogenic condition revealed the expression of relevant gene-encoding proteins in the amyloidogenic pathway, including APP, BACE1, PS1, and PS2. This platform could induce the amyloid-beta 42 secretion and entrap secreted proteins in the scaffold. The induction of amyloidogenic conditions in a 3D culture facilitates the interaction between secreted amyloid-beta and neurons, which makes it resembles the pathological environment in Alzheimer's brain. Together, this workflow is applicable for studying the cellular and molecular analysis of amyloid-induced neuronal toxicity, such as those occurred in Alzheimer's disease progression. Importantly, our method is cost-effective, reproducible, and easy to manipulate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease*
  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
  • Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases
  • Humans
  • Hydrogels
  • Laminin
  • Neuroblastoma*
  • Neurons
  • Sepharose
  • Workflow

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
  • Hydrogels
  • Laminin
  • Sepharose
  • Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases
  • Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases

Grants and funding

This research has received funding support from the NSRF via the Program Management Unit for Human Resources & Institutional Development, Research and Innovation (grant number B05F640135). PN was supported by Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI) through the Basic Research Fund: Fiscal year 2022 (project number FRB650048/0164). PB was also supported by the Frontier Research Unit (grant number 6401005490). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.