Transferable neuronal mini-cultures to accelerate screening in primary and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: The effort and cost of obtaining neurons for large-scale screens has limited drug discovery in neuroscience. To overcome these obstacles, we fabricated arrays of releasable polystyrene micro-rafts to generate thousands of uniform, mobile neuron mini-cultures. These mini-cultures sustain synaptically-active neurons which can be easily transferred, thus increasing screening throughput by >30-fold. Compared to conventional methods, micro-raft cultures exhibited significantly improved neuronal viability and sample-to-sample consistency. We validated the screening utility of these mini-cultures for both mouse neurons and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons by successfully detecting disease-related defects in synaptic transmission and identifying candidate small molecule therapeutics. This affordable high-throughput approach has the potential to transform drug discovery in neuroscience.
Source: Scientific Reports
DOI: 10.1038/srep08353
Authors: Mark Niedringhaus, Raluca Dumitru, Angela M. Mabb, Yuli Wang, Benjamin D. Philpot, Nancy L. Allbritton, Anne Marion Taylor
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
Funders: Simons Foundation, Angelman Syndrome Foundation, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
OpenAlex ID: W2031472460