Selection of Lineage Guiding Metabolites in Stem Cell Cultures

Alakpa, E. et al. (2015) Selection of Lineage Guiding Metabolites in Stem Cell Cultures. International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), Stockholm, Sweden, 24-27th Jun 2015.

Abstract

This study reports the use of self assembled peptide (F2S) hydrogels and cellular metabolomics to identify a number of innate molecules that are integral to the metabolic processes which drive cellular differentiation. Current methods for achieving this wholly depend on the use of chemical induction media which generally comprise synthetic molecules or attempting to match the physical environment to that of targeted tissue types. By culturing pericytes on F2S hydrogels with varied mechanical qualities, these cells were induced to undergo neuronal (2 kPa), chondrogenic (15 kPa) and osteogenic (40kPa) differentiation. Because the system relies solely on mechanical tuning of a uniform substrate, alterations in cell behaviour by way of total metabolism could be used to mine for selective compounds of interest by way of patterned depletion. When the selected metabolites (ceramide, lysophosphatidic acid and cholesterol sulphate respectively) were reintroduced into stem cells cultures, they were observed as having the ability to direct differentiation in their own right and with similar efficacy to routinely used induction media. Interestingly, it was also observed that these metabolites, when introduced in vitro, have distinct effects on stem cell behaviour dependent on whether the cells are amenable to them. That is, metabolic functions are innately coupled to the pericytes physical and morphological states. This approach shows that simple metabolites provide an alternative means to direct stem cell differentiation and that materials can be used to identify them simply and quickly which has clear implications for stem cell drug discovery.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Alakpa, Miss Enateri and Dalby, Professor Matthew
• Authors: Alakpa, E., Jayawarna, V., West, C., Bakker, S., Roy, S., Javid, N., Fleming, S., Lamprou, D., Urquhart, A., Frederix, P., Hunt, N., Peault, B., Ulijn, R., and Dalby, M.
• Subjects: Q Science > QD Chemistry; Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology; Q Science > QH Natural history > QH345 Biochemistry
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences; College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Research Group: Centre for Cell Engineering

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• Organisation

• Data DOI: 10.5525/gla.researchdata.224