Boissart Claire, Lasbareilles Marie, Tournois Johana, Chatrousse Laure, Poullion Thifaine, Benchoua Alexandra
CECS, I-STEM, AFM, Neuroplasticity and Therapeutics, Corbeil-Essonnes, France.
INSERM UMR 861, I-STEM, AFM, Corbeil-Essonnes, France.
Front Pharmacol. 2023 Jun 26;14:1152180. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1152180. eCollection 2023.
Alteration in the development, maturation, and projection of dopaminergic neurons has been proposed to be associated with several neurological and psychiatric disorders. Therefore, understanding the signals modulating the genesis of human dopaminergic neurons is crucial to elucidate disease etiology and develop effective countermeasures. In this study, we developed a screening model using human pluripotent stem cells to identify the modulators of dopaminergic neuron genesis. We set up a differentiation protocol to obtained floorplate midbrain progenitors competent to produce dopaminergic neurons and seeded them in a 384-well screening plate in a fully automated manner. These progenitors were treated with a collection of small molecules to identify the compounds increasing dopaminergic neuron production. As a proof-of-principle, we screened a library of compounds targeting purine- and adenosine-dependent pathways and identified an adenosine receptor 3 agonist as a candidate molecule to increase dopaminergic neuron production under physiological conditions and in cells invalidated for the HPRT1 gene. This screening model can provide important insights into the etiology of various diseases affecting the dopaminergic circuit development and plasticity and be used to identify therapeutic molecules for these diseases.
多巴胺能神经元的发育、成熟和投射改变被认为与多种神经和精神疾病有关。因此,了解调节人类多巴胺能神经元发生的信号对于阐明疾病病因和开发有效的应对措施至关重要。在本研究中,我们利用人类多能干细胞开发了一种筛选模型,以鉴定多巴胺能神经元发生的调节因子。我们建立了一种分化方案,以获得能够产生多巴胺能神经元的底板中脑祖细胞,并以全自动方式将它们接种到384孔筛选板中。用一组小分子处理这些祖细胞,以鉴定增加多巴胺能神经元产生的化合物。作为原理验证,我们筛选了一个靶向嘌呤和腺苷依赖性途径的化合物库,并鉴定出一种腺苷受体3激动剂作为在生理条件下和HPRT1基因无效的细胞中增加多巴胺能神经元产生的候选分子。这种筛选模型可以为影响多巴胺能回路发育和可塑性的各种疾病的病因提供重要见解,并用于鉴定这些疾病的治疗分子。