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Imaging pathological activities of human brain tissue in organotypic culture

Le Duigou, C; Savary, E; Morin-Brureau, M; Gomez-Dominguez, D; Sobczyk, A; Chali, F; Milior, G; ... Miles, R; + view all (2018) Imaging pathological activities of human brain tissue in organotypic culture. Journal of Neuroscience Methods , 298 pp. 33-44. 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.02.001. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Insights into human brain diseases may emerge from tissue obtained after operations on patients. However techniques requiring transduction of transgenes carried by viral vectors cannot be applied to acute human tissue. NEW METHOD: We show that organotypic culture techniques can be used to maintain tissue from patients with three different neurological syndromes for several weeks in vitro. Optimized viral vector techniques and promoters for transgene expression are described. RESULTS: Region-specific differences in neuronal form, firing pattern and organization as well as pathological activities were maintained over 40–50 days in culture. Both adeno-associated virus and lentivirus based vectors were persistently expressed from ∼10 days after application, providing 30–40 days to exploit genetically expressed constructs. Different promoters, including hSyn, e/hSyn, CMV and CaMKII, provided cell-type specific transgene expression. The Ca probe GCaMP let us explore epileptogenic synchrony and a FRET-based probe was used to follow activity of the kinase mTORC1. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: The use of a defined culture medium, with low concentrations of amino acids and no growth factors, permitted organotypic culture of tissue from humans aged 3–62 years. Epileptic activity was maintained and excitability changed relatively little until ∼6 weeks in culture. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristic morphology and region-specific neuronal activities are maintained in organotypic culture of tissue from patients diagnosed with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, cortical dysplasia and cortical glioblastoma. Viral vector techniques permit expression of probes for long-term measurements of multi-cellular activity and intra-cellular signaling.

Type: Article
Title: Imaging pathological activities of human brain tissue in organotypic culture
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.02.001
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.02.001
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Organotypic culture, Human, Epilepsy, Tumour, Viral vector, GCaMP, mTOR
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10064555
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