Integration of Stem Cell-Derived Neurons with Multi-Electrode Array
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Biotechnology (MPBIO), MSc
Publicerad
2024
Författare
Simonsson, Isabella
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The prevalence of serious mental illnesses (SMI) in the US adult population, in-
cluding bipolar disorder (BP), major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia
(SCZ), is estimated at 4-6%. While the creation of in vitro models from human
induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has transformed disease modeling in such
illnesses, further research is needed to optimize these models.
This project utilizes the human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line H1 to investigate
the electrophysiological activity of stem cell-derived cortical neurons using Multi-
Electrode Arrays (MEA). By integrating micro-electrodes into cell well-plates, neu-
ral activity can be non-destructively measured over several weeks with MEA. The
objective is to optimize the integration of stem cell-derived neurons with MEA for
monitoring electrophysiological activity, evaluating different cell densities, coatings,
and culturing mediums.
Comprising a pilot study followed by a more extensive investigation, this project
compares metrics such as activity and electrode coverage across various culturing
conditions to identify optimal parameters. The most promising condition entails a
cell density of 50k cells per well, coated with both Poly-L-Ornithine (PLO) and Bi-
olaminin 521 (LN521), and cultured in either Neural Maintenance Medium (NMM)
or BrainPhys (BP).