Isolation of Adult Human Astrocyte Populations from Fresh-Frozen Cortex Using Fluorescence-Activated Nuclei Sorting
Summary
We have developed a method that enriches for and isolates human astrocyte populations from fresh-frozen tissue for use in downstream molecular analyses.
Abstract
The complexity of human astrocytes remains poorly defined in primary human tissue, requiring better tools for their isolation and molecular characterization. Fluorescence-activated nuclei sorting (FANS) can be used to successfully isolate and study human neuronal nuclei (NeuN+) populations from frozen archival tissue, thereby avoiding problems associated with handling fresh tissue. However, efforts to similarly isolate astroglia from the non-neuronal (NeuN-) element are lacking. A recently developed and validated immunotagging strategy uses three transcription factor antibodies to simultaneously isolate enriched neuronal (NeuN+), astrocyte (paired box protein 6 (PAX6)+NeuN-), and oligodendrocyte progenitor (OLIG2+NeuN-) nuclei populations from non-diseased, fresh (unfixed) snap-frozen postmortem human temporal neocortex tissue.
This technique was shown to be useful for the characterization of cell type-specific transcriptome alterations in primary pathological epilepsy neocortex. Transcriptomic analyses confirmed that PAX6+NeuN- sorted populations are robustly enriched for pan-astrocyte markers and capture astrocytes in both resting and reactive conditions. This paper describes the FANS methodology for the isolation of astrocyte-enriched nuclei populations from fresh-frozen human cortex, including tissue dissociation into single-nucleus (sn) suspension; immunotagging of nuclei with anti-NeuN and anti-PAX6 fluorescently conjugated antibodies; FANS gating strategies and quality control metrics for optimizing sensitivity and specificity during sorting and for confirming astrocyte enrichment; and recommended procurement for downstream transcriptome and chromatin accessibility sequencing at bulk or sn resolution. This protocol is applicable for non-necrotic, fresh-frozen, human cortical specimens with various pathologies and recommended postmortem tissue collection within 24 h.
Introduction
The molecular complexity of human astrocytes remains poorly defined in primary tissue, requiring better tools for their isolation and characterization at high resolution, both in health and disease. Separation of intact human neurons and glia from their niche has proven difficult due to limited access of fresh brain tissue samples, the heavily interconnected nature of glial and neuronal processes, and inevitable cellular activation during processing, all of which limit the molecular characterization of these cell types ex vivo1. Fluorescence-activated nuclei sorting (FANS) has emerged as an alternative to live-cell sorting, enabling the dissociation and immunotagging of nuclei populations from frozen tissue. In the past decade, FANS has become widely used for isolating and molecularly characterizing human neuronal (NeuN+) nuclei populations in a variety of brain specimens and anatomical regions1,2,3,4.
However, similar methods for isolating specific glial nuclei subpopulations from human cortex have been limited, leading to a relative lack of sophistication in the understanding of astrocyte complexity in both normal and diseased tissues. To this end, a previously published protocol was adapted for isolating human neuronal populations using FANS4, and a method was validated to enrich for astrocytes (and for oligodendroglial progenitors) using a triple-antibody combination, capturing astrocytes in both resting and reactive conditions5. To specifically enrich for astrocytes in the NeuN- fraction, antibodies were used against one of two transcription factors known to be differentially expressed across astrocyte populations, PAX6 or SRY-box transcription factor 9 (SOX9)6,7. PAX6 is highly expressed during early fetal development within radial glia-like progenitors in germinal zones and contributes toward both neurogenesis and gliogenesis8,9,10,11 as well as to retinal neuronal specification12. In the adult, PAX6 is differentially overexpressed in resting human astrocytes6 and shows protein co-expression with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in human epilepsy tissue astrocytes13.
This protocol describes the simultaneous isolation of neocortical neuronal and astrocyte-enriched nuclei populations by FANS. Fresh (unfixed) snap-frozen (i.e., fresh-frozen) postmortem tissue collected from adult cortex is first mechanically and chemically dissociated. After lysis and ultracentrifugation in a sucrose gradient, the cytoplasmic and extracellular components are discarded while the nuclei are retained. Nuclei are then labeled with fluorescently conjugated nuclear antibodies corresponding to the desired target lineages and sorted using FANS. Following this approach, enrichment of astrocytes is demonstrated in the collected PAX6+NeuN- populations, validated both by a targeted qPCR panel as well as by downstream nuclear RNA sequencing.
Protocol
Representative Results
Discussion
Experimental design following the outlined protocol should be finalized after considering several biological and technical factors. Starting tissue samples are fresh-frozen, without having been fixed, and preferably have a short postmortem collection interval to maximize nuclei recovery. Based on experience, a PMI of up to 24 h allows for adequate nuclei recovery; however, a PMI of 12 h or less is preferable to optimize intact nuclei recovery. Additional factors apart from PMI, including temperature of body storage and p…
Divulgazioni
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
We like to thank members in Pathology and Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for help with the procurement of de-identified brain tissue and ISMMS's Flow Cytometry CORE for expert advice. The study was partially funded by NIH RF1DA048810, R01NS106229, R03NS101581 (to N.M.T.), and R61DA048207 (to S.A.).
Materials
| 10x PBS pH 7.2 | Invitrogen | 70013073 | |
| ANTI-NEUN ANTIBODY CLONE A60 | Millipore | MAB377A5MI | mouse anti-NeuN conjugated to a fluorescent compound AF555 (excitation, 553 nm; emission, 568 nm) |
| ANTI-OLIG2 ANTIBODY CLONE 211 | Millipore | MABN50A4MI | mouse anti-OLIG2 conjugated to a fluorescent compound AF488 (excitation, 499 nm; emission, 520 nm) |
| Bovine Serum Albumin | Fisher | BP9704-100 | |
| Bright-Line Counting Chamber | Hausser Scientific | 3110V | |
| Calcium Chloride Anhydrous | Fisher | C614-3 | |
| Cell Strainers, 40 µM | SP Scienceware | 136800040 | |
| DAPI (4',6-Diamidino-2-Phenylindole, Dihydrochloride) | Invitrogen | D1306 | |
| DL-Dithiothreitol | Sigma | 43815-1G | |
| DNA Library Kit | Illumina, Nextera | FC-121–1030 | |
| DNAse I | Worthington | LS002139 | |
| Dounce Tissue Grinder | WHEATON | 357542 | |
| FACS Sorter | BD Biosciences | BD FACSAria III | |
| Magnesium Acetate Tetrahydrate | Fisher | M13-500 | |
| PAX6 (PAX6/496) – 100 TESTS | Novus | NBP234705J | |
| RNA Clean & Concentrator | Zymo Research | R1013 | |
| RNaseZap RNase Decontamination Solution | Invitrogen | AM9780 | |
| SMARTer Stranded Total RNA-Seq Kit Pico Input Mammalian | Clontech Laboratories | 635005 | Fragmentation time of 2.5 minutes, as recommended for low RIN RNA values. |
| Sucrose, crystal certified, ACS, 500 mg | Fisher | S5500 | |
| SW 41 Ti Swinging-Bucket Rotor | Beckman Coulter | 331362 | |
| Tris-HCl, 1M Solution, pH 8.0, Molecular Biology Grade, Ultrapure | Thermo Scientific | J22638AE | |
| TritonX-100 | Fisher | BP151-500 | non-ionic surfactant in lysis buffer |
| TRIzol LS Reagent | Invitrogen | 10296028 | |
| TRIzol Reagent | Invitrogen | 15596026 | reagent for isolation of RNA |
| Trypan Blue Solution, 0.4% | Gibco | 15250061 | |
| Ultracentrifuge | Beckman Coulter Optima XE-100 | A94516 | |
| Ultracentrifuge tubes PP 9/16 X 3-1/2 | Beckman Coulter | 331372 | |
| UltraPure Distilled Water (RNAse-, DNAse-free) | Invitrogen | 10977023 | referred to as distilled water |
| Ultrapure EDTA | Life Technologies | 15576-028 |
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