The material contained in the ASCII text file named “P1006798US01_ST25.txt” created on Nov. 22, 2017, and having a file size of 18,746 bytes is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a method for efficiently producing a β myosin heavy chain in cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced plluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens.
Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. Sho 60-110287 discloses that cell proliferation is promoted by application of electric pulse to the cultivated cells.
Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. Hei 4-141087 discloses a method that cells are differentiated by application of electric voltage to the cells through a liquid culture medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,916,189 discloses a cell culture support for forming string-shaped cardiomyocyte aggregates.
Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 2013-188173 discloses a method for creating cell tissue having function.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0017718 discloses a method for inducing cardiac differentiation of a pluripotent stem cell.
WO 2016/060260 discloses a method for producing a tissue fragment, particularly a myocardial tissue fragment which contains cultured cells having an oriented configuration. See
The present invention provides a method for producing a β myosin heavy chain in cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens, the method comprising:
The present invention provides a method for efficiently producing a β myosin heavy chain in cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As disclosed in FIG. 2C of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0017718, an amount of production of a β myosin heavy chain (hereinafter, referred to as “β MHC”) is significantly smaller in cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens than in cardiac muscle cells included in a living body. The β MHC is one kind of polypeptides providing support for a structure of the cell. For the maturation of the cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens, it is important to produce the β MHC efficiently.
The β MHC has a primary structure consisting of the amino acid sequence represented by the following SEQ ID NO: 1.
For reference, myosin regulatory light chain 2 (hereinafter, referred to as “MYL2”) is also produced in the cardiac muscle cells. The MYL2 has a primary structure consisting of the amino acid sequences represented by the following SEQ ID NO: 2.
MAPKKAKKRAGGANSNVFSMFEQTQIQEFKEAFTIMDQNRDGFIDKNDLRDTFAALGRVNVKN EEIDEMIKEAPGPINFTVFLTMFGEKLKGADPEETILNAFKVFDPEGKGVLKADYVREMLTTQAERFSKE EVDQMFAAFPPDVTGNLDYKNLVHIITHGEEKD (SEQ ID NO: 2)
Hereinafter, the cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens are just referred to as “cardiac muscle cells”. As well known, the induced pluripotent stem cells may be referred to as “iPS cells”.
(Step (a))
First, a liquid culture medium containing cardiac muscle cells are supplied on a substrate 100 comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and insulative fibers on the surface thereof.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The insulative fibers 50 are exposed on the surface of the substrate 100. The first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32 are also exposed on the surface of substrate 100.
The insulative fibers 50 have orientation such that an angle formed between each of not less than 90% of the insulative fibers 50 and an imaginary straight line which passes through both the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32 is not more than ±20 degrees in the top view of substrate 100. In other words, each of the not less than 90% of the insulative fibers 50 forms an angle of not more than 20 degrees with regard to the imaginary straight line. Therefore, not less than 90% of the insulative fibers 50 are substantially parallel to a direction of an electric field generated when an electric current (e.g., pulse electric current) is caused to flow between the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32. Needless to say, the imaginary straight line does not exist actually on the substrate 100. Desirably, the angle is not more than ±5 degrees. See the paragraph 0023 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/519,341, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In case where less than 90% of the insulative fibers 50 are substantially parallel to the imaginary straight line which passes through both the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32, the β MHC is not produced efficiently. See the comparative examples 3-6 which will be described later. In the comparative examples 2-3, almost all of the insulative fibers 50 are substantially perpendicular to the imaginary straight line which passes through both the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32. In other words, in the comparative examples 2-3, each of the almost all of the insulative fibers 50 forms an angle of approximately 90 degrees with regard to the imaginary straight line. In the comparative examples 4-5, a roughly half of the insulative fibers 50 are perpendicular to the imaginary straight line which passes through both the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32, and the other roughly half of the insulative fibers 50 are parallel to the imaginary straight line.
Desirably, each of the insulative fibers 50 has a diameter of not less than 1 micrometer and not more than 5 micrometers. It is desirable that the material of the insulative fibers 50 is selected from the group consisting of polystyrene, polycarbonate, polymethylmethacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, polymethylglutarimide, or polylactic acid. It is desirable that the distance between the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32 is not less than 150 micrometers and not more than 5,000 micrometers.
One example of a fabrication method of the substrate 100 will be described in more detail in the examples which will be described later. A skilled person who has read the examples which will be described later would understand easily the fabrication method of the substrate 100.
As shown in
(Step (b))
The Step (b) is conducted out after the step (a). In the Step (b), the substrate 100 is left at rest. In this way, the cardiac muscle cells adhere on the insulative fibers 50 or the surface of substrate 100. Desirably, the substrate 100 is left at rest over 24 hours.
(Step (c))
The Step (c) is conducted after the step (b). In the step (c), while a pulse electric current is applied to the cardiac muscle cells 180 through the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32, the cardiac muscle cells 180 are cultivated. The same pulse electric current may be applied to the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32. When the pulse electric current is applied to the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32, a reference electrode 4 may be used. The reference electrode 4 is grounded. As shown in
One pulse has a time length of 0.05 milliseconds to 4 milliseconds (0.4 milliseconds in
As demonstrated in the inventive example 1, the thus-cultivated cardiac muscle cells 180 contain a lot of β MHC. In other words, the β MHC is produced efficiently in the thus-cultivated cardiac muscle cells 180. In case where the pulse electric current fails to be applied, the β MHC fails to be produced efficiently. See the comparative examples 1, 3, 5, and 7 which will be described later.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.
(Fabrication of Substrate 100)
The substrate 100 shown in
Then, the surface of the glass base 1 was coated with an insulation film 40 consisting of a photosensitive acrylic acid resin. The electric contacts 2 were not coated with the insulation film 40. Each one end of the electric wirings 3 was not coated with the insulation film 40, since the one end of the electric wiring 3 was used as the first electrode 31, the second electrode 32, or the reference electrode 4. Subsequently, the glass base 1 was subjected to plasma surface treatment at an RF power of 18 W for two minutes with a plasma treatment apparatus (available from Harrick Plasma Company, trade name: “PDC-32G”).
The end of the electric wiring 3 exposed on the surface (i.e., the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32) had a size of approximately 15 micrometers×approximately 170 micrometers. The reference electrode 4 had an area of approximately 200 square micrometers. The distance between the ends of adjacent two electric wirings 3 was approximately 400 micrometers. The distance of adjacent two electrode sets 6 was approximately 4 millimeters.
Meanwhile, insulative fibers made of polymethyl glutaric imide were formed on the surface of an aluminum tape (available from Hitachi Maxell. Ltd., trade name: SLIONTEC) by an electrospinning method in accordance with the process disclosed in the paragraph 0122 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/519,341. Unlike the process disclosed in the paragraph 0122 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/519,341, an ejection time of polymethyl glutaric imide in the electrospinning method was 30 minutes in the inventive example 1. The insulative fibers had a surface coverage of 30%.
Then, the aluminum tape having the insulative fibers was disposed on the surface of the glass base 1 so that the insulative fibers were sandwiched between the aluminum tape and the electric wiring 3. The aluminum tape having the insulative fibers was impressed onto the surface of the insulation film 40 and the exposed ends of the electric wirings 3. Then, the aluminum tape was removed.
Then, as shown in
The exposed ends of the electric wirings 3 were plated with platinum black 5. Specifically, the parts were plated at a current density of 20 mA/cm2 for two minutes using a plating solution. During the plating, the electric wirings 3 were used as cathodes. The plating solution had the composition shown in Table 1. The first electrode 31 or the second electrode 32 was formed through such plating on the surface of the end of the electric wiring 3. In other words, the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32 were formed of platinum black.
In this way, the substrate 100 was provided.
(Cultivation of Cardiac Muscle Cells)
Using the substrate 100, cardiac muscle cells differentiated by induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens were cultivated. And then, production ratio of the β MHC was measured. Specifically, cardiac muscle cells differentiated by induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens (available from iPS Academia Japan, Inc., trade name: iCell Cardiomycytes) were used. Pursuant to the protocol described in the manual attached to iCell Cardiomycytes, a liquid culture medium containing cardiac muscle cells differentiated by induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens was prepared.
Then, as shown in
Two days after the supply of the liquid culture medium 182, the pulse electric current shown in
The pulse electric current was applied to the cardiac muscle cells 180 for 12 days, except in time of a change of a culture medium. In this way, the cardiac muscle cells 180 were cultivated.
(Measurement of Production Ratio of β MHC)
The production ratio of the β MHC contained in the thus-cultivated cardiac muscle cells 180 was measured as below.
The cardiac muscle cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and were permeabilized in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) plus 0.5% Triton X-100 for 0.5 hours. After blocking in a 5% normal donkey serum, 3% BSA, and 0.1% Tween 20 in PBS for 16 hours at 4 degrees Celsius, the cells were incubated for 16 hours at 4 degrees Celsius with mouse MYH7 monoclonal IgM primary antibodies (available from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, trade name: SC-53089) diluted at 1:100 with a blocking buffer. In this way, the primary antibodies were bound to the cardiac muscle cells. The antigen capable of binding to the primary antibody was β MHC (GenBank: AAA51837.1).
Then, the cardiac muscle cells to which the primary antibodies were bound were washed with PBS. Subsequently, the cardiac muscle cells were incubated for 1 hour at 25 degrees Celsius with fluorescently-labelled anti-mouse IgM secondary antibodies (available from Jackson Immunoresearch labs., trade name: DyLight-594-Donkey anti-mouse IgM) diluted at 1:1,000 with the blocking buffer. In this way, the fluorescently-labelled secondary antibodies were bound to the primary antibodies. In this way, the cardiac muscle cells were fluorescently labelled.
The fluorescently-labelled cardiac muscle cells were observed using a fluorescent microscope.
Hereinafter, the β MHC production ratio is defined as a rate of the sum of the areas of the regions each having a digital brightness level of not less than 65 to the area of the whole of the observation region. In other words, the β MHC production ratio is calculated according to the following mathematical formula.
(β MHC Production Ratio)=(Sum of Areas of the regions each having a digital brightness level of not less than 65)/(Area of the whole of the observation region)
In the inventive example 1, the β MHC production ratio was 57.9%.
For reference, production ratio of myosin regulatory light chain 2 (hereinafter, referred to as “MYL2”) contained in the cultivated cardiac muscle cells was measured similarly. In particular, the MYL2 production ratio was calculated similarly to the case of the β MHC production ratio, except for the following two matters.
(I) In place of the mouse MYH7 monoclonal IgM antibodies, rabbit MYL2 polyclonal IgG antibodies (dilution ratio: 1/200, available from Proteintech Company, trade name: 109060-1-AP) was used as the primary antibodies.
(II) In place of the anti-mouse IgM fluorescently-labelled secondary antibodies, anti rabbit IgG fluorescently-labelled antibodies (available from Jackson Immunoresearch labs., trade name: Alexa Fluor 488 Donkey anti-rabbit IgG) was used as the secondary antibodies.
As a result, the MYL2 production ratio was 36.7% in the inventive example 1.
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that no pulse electric current was applied.
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that almost all of the insulative fibers 50 were disposed substantially perpendicularly (namely, in a vertical direction in
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that almost all of the insulative fibers 50 were disposed substantially perpendicularly (namely, in a vertical direction in
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that roughly half of the insulative fibers 50 were disposed parallel (namely, in the horizontal direction in
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that some of the insulative fibers 50 were disposed parallel (namely, in the horizontal direction in
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that no insulative fibers 50 were disposed, as shown in
An experiment similar to the inventive example 1 was conducted, except that no insulative fibers 50 were disposed, as shown in
The following Table 2 shows the 13 WIC production rate measured in the inventive example 1 and the comparative examples 1-7.
The following Table 3 shows the MYL2 production rate measured in the inventive example 1 and the comparative examples 1-7.
As is clear from Table 2, when both of the following requirements (I) and (II) are satisfied, the β MHC production rate is a significantly high value of 57.9%. See the inventive example 1.
Requirement (I): The insulative fibers 50 have orientation such that an angle formed between each of not less than 90% of the insulative fibers 50 and an imaginary straight line which passes through both the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 32 is not more than ±20 degrees in the top view.
Requirement (II): The cardiac muscle cells 180 are cultivated, while the pulse electric current is applied thereto.
On the other hand, in case where at least one of the requirements (I) and (II) fails to be satisfied, the β MHC production rate is a low value of less than 36.5%. See the comparative examples 1-7.
As is clear from Table 3, regardless to the direction of the insulative fibers, the MYL2 production rate is a constant value of approximately 32%-37%. On the other hand, as is clear from Table 1, the β MHC production rate is significantly increased, when both of the requirements (I) and (II) are satisfied. In other words, the use of the insulative fibers increases the production amount of polypeptide (including protein) in the cardiac muscle cells. Among the polypeptide produced in the cardiac muscle cells, when both of the requirements (I) and (II) are satisfied, the β MHC is produced at the significantly high production rate, unlike other polypeptide such as MYL2.
The present invention provides a method for efficiently producing β myosin heavy chain in cardiac muscle cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Homo sapiens.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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