Physiologically relevant culture medium Plasmax improves human placental trophoblast stem cell function

Avellino, G., Deshmukh, R., Rogers, S. N., Charnock-Jones, D. S., Smith, G. C.S., Tardito, S. and Aye, I. L.M.H. (2023) Physiologically relevant culture medium Plasmax improves human placental trophoblast stem cell function. American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology, 324(4), C878-C885. (doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00581.2022) (PMID:36878843)

Abstract

Human trophoblast cultures provide powerful tools to model key processes of placental development. In vitro trophoblast studies to date have relied on commercial media which contains non-physiological levels of nutrients, and the impact of these conditions on trophoblast metabolism and function is unknown. Here we show that the physiological medium (Plasmaxä) with nutrient and metabolite concentrations recapitulating human plasma improves human trophoblast stem cell (hTSC) proliferation and differentiation compared to standard medium (DMEM-F12). hTSCs cultured in Plasmax-based medium also show altered glycolytic and mitochondrial metabolism, as well as reduced S-adenosylmethionine/S-adenosyl-homosysteine ratio compared to DMEM-F12-based medium. These findings demonstrate the importance of the nutritional environment for phenotyping cultured human trophoblasts.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors thank the Core Services and Advanced Technologies at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute (C596/A17196 and A31287) and particularly the Metabolomics facility. This work was funded by the Cancer Research UK award (A17196) to Saverio Tardito, and by the MRC Career Development Award (MR/W027046/1) to Irving Aye, and a PhD scholarship from the Centre for Trophoblast Research, University of Cambridge to Giulia Avellino.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tardito, Dr Saverio
• Authors: Avellino, G., Deshmukh, R., Rogers, S. N., Charnock-Jones, D. S., Smith, G. C.S., Tardito, S., and Aye, I. L.M.H.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology
• Publisher: American Physiological Society
• ISSN: 0363-6143
• ISSN (Online): 1522-1563
• Published Online: 06 March 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology
• First Published: First published in American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology 324(4): C878-C885
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License