title: Automated Electrophysiological and Pharmacological Evaluation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes.
abstract: Automated planar patch clamp systems are widely used in drug evaluation studies because of their ability to provide accurate, reliable, and reproducible data in a high-throughput manner. Typically, CHO and HEK tumorigenic cell lines overexpressing single ion channels are used since they can be harvested as high-density, homogenous, single-cell suspensions. While human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) are physiologically more relevant, these cells are fragile, have complex culture requirements, are inherently heterogeneous, and are expensive to produce, which has restricted their use on automated patch clamp (APC) devices. Here, we used high efficiency differentiation protocols to produce cardiomyocytes from six different hPSC lines for analysis on the Patchliner (Nanion Technologies GmbH) APC platform. We developed a two-step cell preparation protocol that yielded cell catch rates and whole-cell breakthroughs of ∼80%, with ∼40% of these cells allowing electrical activity to be recorded. The protocol permitted formation of long-lasting (>15 min), high quality seals (>2 GΩ) in both voltage- and current-clamp modes. This enabled density of sodium, calcium, and potassium currents to be evaluated, along with dose-response curves to their respective channel inhibitors, tetrodotoxin, nifedipine, and E-4031. Thus, we show the feasibility of using the Patchliner platform for automated evaluation of the electrophysiology and pharmacology of hPSC-CMs, which will enable considerable increase in throughput for reliable and efficient drug evaluation.
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, School of Medicine, Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering & Modelling, University of Nottingham , Nottingham, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Divya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rajamohan
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, School of Medicine, Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering & Modelling, University of Nottingham , Nottingham, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Spandan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalra
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, School of Medicine, Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering & Modelling, University of Nottingham , Nottingham, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Minh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duc Hoang
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, School of Medicine, Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering & Modelling, University of Nottingham , Nottingham, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Vinoj
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: 2 Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust , Department of Cardiology, Nottingham, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Staniforth
authors.affiliation: 3 Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Group, Department of Oral Biology, University of Leeds, St. James's University Hospital , Leeds, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: 3 Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Group, Department of Oral Biology, University of Leeds, St. James's University Hospital , Leeds, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Xuebin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, School of Medicine, Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering & Modelling, University of Nottingham , Nottingham, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denning
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology; D061251:Primary Cell Culture / Q000379:methods*; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism; D026941:Sodium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D026941:Sodium Channel Blockers; D012964:Sodium; D011188:Potassium; D002118:Calcium