A Fluorescence-based Assay for Characterization and Quantification of Lipid Droplet Formation in Human Intestinal Organoids
Summary
This protocol describes an assay for the characterization of lipid droplet (LD) formation in human intestinal organoids upon stimulation with fatty acids. We discuss how this assay is used for quantification of LD formation, and how it can be used for high throughput screening for drugs that affect LD formation.
Abstract
Dietary lipids are taken up as free fatty acids (FAs) by the intestinal epithelium. These FAs are intracellularly converted into triglyceride (TG) molecules, before they are packaged into chylomicrons for transport to the lymph or into cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) for intracellular storage. A crucial step for the formation of LDs is the catalytic activity of diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGAT) in the final step of TG synthesis. LDs are important to buffer toxic lipid species and regulate cellular metabolism in different cell types. Since the human intestinal epithelium is regularly confronted with high concentrations of lipids, LD formation is of great importance to regulate homeostasis. Here we describe a simple assay for the characterization and quantification of LD formation (LDF) upon stimulation with the most common unsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid, in human intestinal organoids. The LDF assay is based on the LD-specific fluorescent dye LD540, which allows for quantification of LDs by confocal microscopy, fluorescent plate reader, or flow cytometry. The LDF assay can be used to characterize LD formation in human intestinal epithelial cells, or to study human (genetic) disorders that affect LD metabolism, such as DGAT1 deficiency. Furthermore, this assay can also be used in a high-throughput pipeline to test novel therapeutic compounds, which restore defects in LD formation in intestinal or other types of organoids.
Introduction
Lipids are a crucial component of the human diet and play an important role in systemic energy storage and metabolism. When ingested, dietary lipids are degraded into free fatty acids (FFAs) and monoglycerides (MGs) by pancreatic lipases. These substrates are then taken up by the enterocytes of the intestinal epithelium, where they are first re-esterified to diglycerides (DG) by monoglyceride acyltransferases (MGAT) enzymes and subsequently to triglycerides (TG) by diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1)1. Finally, these TGs are integrated into either chylomicrons for export to the lymph system or cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) for intracellular storage2,3. Although chylomicrons are needed to distribute dietary lipids to other organs, the importance of intracellular fat storage in LDs is not completely clear. However, LDs have been shown to perform a regulatory function in the intestine, as they slowly release lipids into the circulation up to 16 h after a meal4. Furthermore, LDs have been shown to protect against toxic fatty acid concentrations, such as in mouse adipocytes during lipolytic conditions5.
The DGAT1 protein is located on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane and plays a crucial role in LD formation in the intestinal epithelium. Homozygous mutations in DGAT1 lead to early-onset severe diarrhea and/or vomiting, hypoalbuminemia, and/or (fatal) protein-losing enteropathy with intestinal failure upon fat intake, illustrating the importance of DGAT1 in lipid homeostasis of the human intestinal epithelium6,7,8,9,10. Since the occurrence of DGAT1-deficiency in humans is rare, access to primary patient-derived cells has been scarce. Furthermore, the long-term culture of intestinal epithelial cells has long been restricted to tumor-derived cell lines which represent the normal physiology only to a limited extend. Therefore, DGAT1-mediated LD formation has mostly been studied in fibroblasts or animal-derived cell lines7,10,11,12. As such, it was recently shown that DGAT1-deficient patient-derived fibroblasts accumulate less LDs compared to healthy control cells after stimulation with oleic acid (OA)8.
Previously, protocols were established to culture epithelial stem cells from any gastrointestinal organ in the form of three-dimensional (3D) organoids13. These intestinal organoids can be kept in culture for a long period of time13, and allow the functional study of patient- and intestinal location-specific epithelial characteristics14. They are genetically and phenotypically stable and can be stored, allowing long-term expansion and biobanking13.
We recently demonstrated that LD formation can be readily measured in human intestinal organoids in a LD formation (LDF) assay6. When exposed to OA for 16 h, organoids generate LDs to protect the cells from lipid-induced toxicity. When OA concentrations are too high, the cells die by caspase-mediated apoptosis6. The LDF assay was previously shown to be largely dependent on DGAT1 as indicated by organoids derived from DGAT1-mutant patients and by the use of DGAT1-specific inhibitors6.
For the LDF assay described in detail here, 3D organoids are cultured from intestinal biopsies and are passaged weekly by disruption into single cells that easily form new organoids. For running the LDF assay, ~7,500 organoid-derived single cells are plated in each well of a 24-well plate. Organoids are formed over several days, incubated overnight with 1 mM OA and stained with LD540, a fluorescent cell-permeable LD-specific dye that facilitates imaging. The LD formation is then quantified by confocal microscopy, fluorescent plate reader, or flow cytometry.
By scaling this LD formation assay to a 96-well format, the assay can also be used for high-throughput analysis of LD formation to screen for novel drugs which affect LD formation in human intestinal organoid cultures, or to study (human genetic) disorders that affect LD metabolism.
Protocol
Representative Results
Discussion
Here, we provide a protocol to determine LD formation in human intestinal organoids upon incubation with oleic acid. This method is based on the LD-specific fluorescent dye LD54018, which allows for characterization and quantification of the total volume of lipid droplets within an organoid culture. The procedures to establish and maintain human intestinal organoid cultures have been published before13, and a visual guide of this protocol is available as well<sup class="xre…
Divulgazioni
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
We thank B. Spee for generously providing LD540. This work was supported by a Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research grant (NWO-ZonMW; VIDI 016.146.353) to S.M.
Materials
| Advanced DMEM/F12 | Gibco | 12634-028 | |
| B27 supplement | Gibco | 17504-044 | |
| Basement membrane matrix (matrigel) | BD Biosciences | 356231 | |
| DAPI | Sigma-Aldrich | D9542-1MG | |
| DGAT1 inhibitor (AZD 3988) | Tocris Bioscience | 4837/10 | |
| Fatty acid free BSA | Sigma-Aldrich | A7030 | |
| Formaldehyde | Klinipath | 4078-9001 | |
| Glutamin (GlutaMAX, 100X) | Gibco | 15630-056 | |
| HEPES (1 M) | Gibco | 15630-080 | |
| laser scanning confocal microscope | Leica | SP8X | |
| LD540 | kindly provided by Dr. B. Spee, Utrecht University | ||
| mEGF | Peprotech | 315-09_500ug | |
| N-acetyl cysteine | Sigma-Aldrich | A9165-100G | |
| Nicotinamide | Sigma-Aldrich | N0636-500G | |
| Noggin producing cells (HEK293-mNoggin-Fc cells) | MTA with J. den Hertog, Hubrecht Institute | ||
| Oleic acid | Sigma-Aldrich | O1008-5G | |
| p38 MAPK inhibitor (p38i) (SB202190) | Sigma-Aldrich | S7067-25MG | |
| PBS | Sigma-Aldrich | D8662-500ML | |
| PBS without Ca2+/Mg2+ | Sigma-Aldrich | D8537-500ML | |
| Penicillin-Streptomycin (5,000 U/ml) | Gibco | 15070-063 | |
| R-spondin producing cells (Cultrex HA-R-Spondin1-Fc 293T Cells) | R&D systems | 3710-001-01 | |
| TC-treated 24 well plates | Greiner-One | 662160 | |
| TC-treated black clear-bottom 96 well plates | Corning Life Sciences | 353219 | |
| TGFb type I receptor inhibitor (A83-01) | Tocris Bioscience | 2939/10 | |
| Trypsin (TrypLE Express) | Life Technologies | 12604021 | |
| WNT-3A producing cells (L-Wnt-3A cells) | MTA with J. den Hertog, Hubrecht Institute | ||
| Y-27632 dihydrochloride (Rho kinase inhibitor) | Abcam | ab120129-10 |
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