Here we present a protocol describing the setting of an in cellulo BBB (Blood brain barrier)-Minibrain polyester porous membrane culture insert system in order to evaluate the transport of biomolecules or infectious agents across a human BBB and their physiological impact on the neighboring brain cells.
The early screening of nervous system medicines on a pertinent and reliable in cellulo BBB model for their penetration and their interaction with the barrier and the brain parenchyma is still an unmet need. To fill this gap, we designed a 2D in cellulo model, the BBB-Minibrain, by combining a polyester porous membrane culture insert human BBB model with a Minibrain formed by a tri-culture of human brain cells (neurons, astrocytes and microglial cells). The BBB-Minibrain allowed us to test the transport of a neuroprotective drug candidate (e.g., Neurovita), through the BBB, to determine the specific targeting of this molecule to neurons and to show that the neuroprotective property of the drug was preserved after the drug had crossed the BBB. We have also demonstrated that BBB-Minibrain constitutes an interesting model to detect the passage of virus particles across the endothelial cells barrier and to monitor the infection of the Minibrain by neuroinvasive virus particles. The BBB-Minibrain is a reliable system, easy to handle for researcher trained in cell culture technology and predictive of the brain cells phenotypes after treatment or insult. The interest of such in cellulo testing would be twofold: introducing derisking steps early in the drug development on the one hand and reducing the use of animal testing on the other hand.
The brain is separated from the systemic circulation by a non-permeable structure that restricts exchanges between the brain parenchyma and the blood, called the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Mostly composed of cerebral endothelial cells, the BBB dynamically interacts with astrocytes, perivascular microglia and neurons of the neighboring brain parenchyma. The three major functions of the BBB are the creation and maintenance of ionic homeostasis for neuronal functions, supply of the brain with nutrients, and protection from toxic injuries or entry of pathogens1,2, which contribute to the maintenance of brain homeostasis and its functions3. This barrier is so efficient that only few drugs can cross the BBB4,5. At present, the available methods to predict whether a molecule will pass the BBB and diffuse into the brain consist of ex vivo studies on autopsy material, image tracking in the brain of human volunteers by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or PET (positon emission tomography) or pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic preclinical studies in animals6,7,8. These techniques and models have some limitations, such as the limited resolution of PET and the low sensitivity of MRI6,8, the difficulty to quantify molecules (i.e., antibody based molecules for example) that poorly penetrate the brain7, and for the preclinical studies their high cost and resort of animal testing.
The last point is important because, according to the 3R’s rules, (replacement, reduction and refinement of animal testing) the regulatory administrations have asked that the researchers urgently develop scientifically accurate alternative to animal experimentation9,10,11,12,13,14,15.
Over the last decades, several in vitro models of BBB have been proposed16,17,18 by cultivating on filter membrane inserts endothelial cells from different species such as mouse, rat, bovine and pig. As far as the human species is concerned, the scarce and difficult availability of primary cells prompted the researchers to develop human models based on immortalized brain endothelial cells or human-derived stem cells19,20,21. These barriers are proper in vitro surrogates of BBB provided that they express endothelial cell markers, tight junction markers, efflux transporters, solute carriers, receptors, and respond to the endothelial stimuli 20. A few BBB models using filter membrane inserts coated with endothelial cells and other cell types (i.e., astrocytes, neurons or pericytes22,23,24) were assayed. The goal of these co-cultures was to increase the BBB physical characteristics by taking advantage of the secretion of soluble factors by astrocytes/neurons or pericytes.
Nevertheless, none of these models includes brain parenchyma to study and predict the fate of a drug candidate once it has passed the barrier. Therefore, our goal was to build an in cellulo blood/brain interface, the BBB-Minibrain, by combining a BBB model and a culture of mixed brain cells into a single kit. The BBB-Minibrain uses a culture system consisting of a porous filter inserted in a well of a multiwell cell culture plate. The filter is coated with hCMEC/D3 cells, a human brain endothelial cell line that has been proved highly reliable for BBB drug testing25,26,27, to form the BBB. The Minibrain, which is a co-differentiated culture of human neurons and astrocytes derived from the NTera/Cl2.D1 cell line28,29 mixed together with the human microglial cell line CHME/Cl530 in ratio corresponding to the microglia vs. neuron-astrocytes ratios of the brain31, is cultivated in the bottom of the plate well.
Besides studying passage of drugs across the BBB and their fate in the parenchyma, the blood-brain interface in cellulo model could be a powerful tool to address the entry of pathogens into the brain (neuroinvasiveness), the dispersion into the brain (neurotropism) and the toxicity (neurovirulence) they can exert on brain parenchyma cells. Neurovirulence and neuroinvasiveness studies would benefit from the development of an efficient in cellulo model and be advantageous to replace animal models. Using the BBB-Minibrain kit32, we demonstrated the neuroinvasive phenotype of rare viral mutants that accumulated in the French Neurotropic virus strain of Yellow Fever Virus (i.e., FNV-YFV33,34) used to prepare a discontinued live YFV vaccine and the passage of a neuroregenerative and neuroprotective biomolecule called Neurovita (referred as NV henceforth in the manuscript)35. Because NV neither naturally crosses the cell membrane nor the BBB, NV was fused with the variable part (VHH) of a single chain antibody of Llama that crosses the biological membranes including the BBB and functions as a cell penetrating molecule (CPM)36. The CPM property of VHH seems to depend upon the isoelectric point and the length of the VHH37.
This in cellulo test should make it possible to sort the molecules that could potentially cross the BBB before carrying out pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics analysis in animals, and ideally in the same time to be able to predict their behavior in the nervous parenchyma. This system is biologically relevant and easy to set up and handle by professionals well trained in cell culture26,29,30,38. The interest of such in cellulo testing would be two-fold: reducing the costs of preclinical tests on the one hand and reducing the use of animal testing on the other hand.
1. Cell culture work of Ntera/CL2.D1 to prepare a co-culture of post-mitotic hNeurons and hAstrocytes (NT2-N/A)
NOTE: This is the component of the Minibrain (Figure 1).
2. Cell culture work of human microglial cells CHME/Cl5
NOTE: This is the microglial component of the Minibrain (Figure 1).
3. Culture work with the hCMEC/D3 to coat porous inserts and prepare BBB
4. Construction and quality control of the BBB-Minibrain (Figure 2)
5. Use of BBB-Minibrain to highlight the presence of neuro-invasive viral particles in a Yellow Fever Virus vaccine sample, the French Neurotropic virus, YFV-FNV 34 (Figure 3)
6. Use of BBB-Minibrain to study BBB crossing and brain cell targeting of a biomolecule
The BBB-Minibrain is an in cellulo experimental model of blood-brain interface.
The BBB-Minibrain is set up on the polyester membrane culture insert system to mimic a blood compartment on the upper level and a brain compartment on the lower level of the blood-brain interface (Figure 2A,B). It consists of a luminal compartment with the hCMEC/D3 endothelial cells on the filter forming the BBB and an abluminal compartment, which contains the Minibrain human tri-culture of cerebral cells (neurons, astrocytes and microglial cells). The Minibrain cells exhibit a classical tri-culture mixed population phenotype (Figure 1, lower right panel) and express specific markers of each type of cell as shown by da Costa A. et al., 201834.
The use of hCMEC/D3 layer in the BBB-Minibrain allows obtaining a strong barrier with a mean PeLY of 0.95e-03 cm/min and a mean Trans Endothelial Electrical Resistance (TEER) of 51.89 Ω/cm2. These values are in the range of the best values ever described for a human endothelial cell line27,41 in such a polyester membrane culture insert system (Figure 2C). These cells express tight junction protein markers such as ZO-1 and cadherin as expected by the permeability quantification (data not shown). They also express all the subsets of receptors, efflux transporters or transporters [Receptors: LDLR, low density lipoprotein receptor; LRP1, low density lipoprotein receptor related protein 1; INSR, insulin receptor; LEPR, leptin receptor; LU, basal cell adhesion molecule; TFRC, CD71 antigen; AGER, advanced glycosylation end-product receptor. Efflux transporters: ABCB1 (P-gp); ABCG2 (BCRP); ABCC1 (MRP1); ABCC2 (MRP2); ABCC4, ABCC4 protein; ABCC5, ABCC5 protein. Transporters: STRA6, stimulated by retinoic acid gene 6 protein; SLC2A1, glucose transporter type 1; SLC7A5, large neutral amino acid transporter 1; SLC1A1, solute carrier family 1 protein; SLC38A5, solute carrier family 38 member 5 protein; SLC16A1, monocarboxylate transport protein 1], which are key relevant proteins for their biological functions (Figure 2D)21.
The BBB-Minibrain allows selecting, amplifying and characterizing rare neuroinvasive viral variants from a live virus vaccine preparation.
The BBB-Minibrain culture device was used as an in cellulo test allowing isolation and amplification of rare neuroinvasive/neurovirulent variants potentially present in Yellow Fever viruses (YFV) viral live vaccines42. YFV is a viscerotropic virus targeting the liver that does not efficiently cross the BBB. The French neurotropic virus, FNV, was used as a live YFV vaccine until the 1980s33,43. FNV was found to cause post-vaccinal neuropathogenesis in children (0.3 to 0.4% among vaccinees) and thus was discontinued in 198233,43. We used FNV here as a prototype of YF virus which may contain a high proportion of neuroinvasive/neurovirulent variants42,44. A FNV virus preparation (i.e., 3500 PFU/ml) was added in the luminal compartment of a BBB-Minibrain, the control was a BBB-Minibrain that was mock-infected. Presence of the virus particles in the luminal compartment does not alter the barrier permeability as measured 24h later since the PeLY in the viral wells was not different from the PeLy of control wells (0.80 ± 0.09 x 10-3 cm/min and 0.86 ± 0.09 x 10-3 cm/min for PeLY in the control and YFV-FNV wells respectively). The content of the abluminal compartment was evaluated for the presence of virus by plaque assay, at 24 h post infection. The Minibrain cells were incubated two days further to evaluate the amplification of neuroinvasive variants in brain cells and to monitor gene expression as described on the cartoon shown on Figure 3A.
We detected some YFV-FNV viruses, which can cross the BBB at 24 h (mean 43 PFU/mL). The viruses were amplified for the next two days by the multiplication of the virus inside the brain cells (mean titer of 4.69 x 104 PFU/mL), (Figure 3B). Of note, a vaccine strain preparation which does not cause post-vaccinal neuropathogenesis would not efficiently cross the BBB in this system as it has been demonstrated by da Costa A. et al. (2018)34. We identified two biomarkers of the multiplication of the virus: The Interferon Stimulated Gene 15 (ISG15) and the Interferon Regulatory Factor 7 (IRF7). The expressions of these two biomarkers were stimulated when this neuroinvasive viral population was serially passaged on Minibrain cells (Figure 3C). These upregulations measured by Q-RT-PCR were strictly correlated to the viral load (Pearson p value 0.0016 for ISG15 and 0.0260 for IRF7).
BBB-Minibrain allows both assaying the ability of a biomolecule to pass the barrier and at the same time testing whether the biomolecule function was preserved after BBB crossing.
NV is a biomolecule derived from Rabies virus which possesses astonishing properties of neuroprotection and neuroregeneration40. This small polypeptide that neither naturally crosses the cell membrane nor the BBB was fused with a CPM able to target the neurons. Our choice was to use the variable part (VHH) of a single chain antibody of Llama that crosses the biological membranes including the BBB36,45 and a NeuroTag targeting neurons specifically. NV was linked to the VHH and a NeuroTag, to construct a CPM-NeuroTag-NV (Figure 4A) and to the VHH only to construct a CPM-NeuroTagΔ-NV lacking the specific NeuroTag allowing the targeting of the Neurons (Figure 4B). After being added to the luminal compartment, CPM-NeuroTag-NV (green dots) crosses the BBB and was able to target human neurons (in red) (Figure 4C, D). CPM-NeuroTagΔ-NV crosses the endothelial cell barrier (green dots) but targets less efficiently the human neurons (majority of green dots are located outside the neurons) (Figure 4D).
As described above, NV was linked to a VHH and a NeuroTag to construct a CPM-NeuroTag-NV. We did the same for NVΔ an inactive form of NV lacking the active part of NV (CPM-NeuroTag-NVΔ) (Figure 5A). After being added to the Luminal compartment, CPM-NeuroTag-NV crosses the BBB and was able to regenerate axons of human neurons after wounding (Figure 5B, right panel), on the contrary to CPM-NeuroTag-NV Δ the inactive form of NV (Figure 5B, left panel)40. These properties were assayed in two types of protocols; either in a pre–exposure (Figure 5C) or in a post exposure protocol (Figure 5D). When applied before the axon scratching (4 h, H4), CPM-NeuroTag-NV triggers the neuroprotection of the wounded neurons and the axonal regeneration on the contrary of the mock treated cells (i.e., control) or the cells treated with CPM-NeuroTag-NVΔ (mean regeneration 91% and 12%-10% respectively, Figure 5C). When the biomolecule was applied after the axonal lesions (1 hour, H1, Figure 5D) in order to mimic a therapeutically post-exposure protocol, the CPM-NeuroTag-NV is still able to regenerate axons on the contrary of the disabled form of CPM-NeuroTag-NV Δ, (mean regeneration 85% and 5.1% respectively) (Figure 5D).
Figure 1: The Minibrain model. Time table of the NT2-N/A and CHME/Cl5 cultures (upper panel). Photographs (lower panels) of the original cell line (Ntera/cl2.D1) in the left panel, the pseudo neurospheres obtained after ATRA treatment in the middle upper panel , the CHME/Cl5, in the middle lower panel and the Minibrain triculture (Cristal Violet staining), in the right panel, resulting of the mixture of NT2-N/A and CHME/CL5 cultures. Scale bar 100 µm. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: the BBB-Minibrain model. A. Time schedule of the hCMEC/D3 cultures and photograph of the BBB-Minibrain device: a polyester membrane culture inserts-filter with hCMEC/D3 endothelial barrier is held with a forcep before to be inserted in to one well of a 12 wells cell culture plate. B. Cartoon describing the device with the luminal (Blood) compartment containing the endothelial cell barrier and the abluminal (Brain) compartment containing the Minibrain cells (human neurons, astrocytes and microglial cells). C. Representative measures of the BBB-Minibrain permeabililty by TEER (i.e., TransEndothelial Electrical Resistance) on three devices or permeability to LY (i.e., PeLY) on five filters. D. expression analysis by q-RT-PCR of the Receptors, efflux Transporters and Transporters on the endothelial cells hCMEC/D3. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3: The BBB-Minibrain model allows identification of neuroinvasive variants among live YFV vaccine preparation. A. Schedule of the experiment. B. Quantification of the viruses which have crossed the BBB by plaque forming unit (PFU) titration of live virus (each point represents one polyester membrane culture inserts experiment). C. Plot of ISG15 and IRF7 gene expression measured by q-RT-PCR as a function of the number of viral particles in the viral load. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 4: The BBB-Minibrain allows testing of neuroregenerative biomolecule properties: specific targeting of neurons when NV is fused to NeuroTag. A. Cartoon of the CPM based NV (i.e., CPM-NeuroTag-NV) containing a specific NeuroTag to target neuron specifically. B. Cartoon of the CPM based NV deleted of the NeuroTag (i.e., CPM-NeuroTagΔ-NV). C. Representative immunofluorescence photographs of the human neurons. Scale bar 50 µm. NF 200 in red, CPM-NeuroTag-NV/CPM-NeuroTagΔ-NV in green, nuclei in blue. D. CPM-NeuroTag-NV molecules can cross the BBB and target human neurons more efficiently than CPM-NeuroTagΔ-NV. Infected neurons and total population of neurons were counted on triplicate slides after immunolabeling. Total neurons correspond to NF200 positive cells (in red). Any red cells associated with one or more green dot (CPM-NV) is counted as a positive neuron. Unpaired student’s t-test two tailed ***p=0.0002. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 5: The BBB-Minibrain allows testing of neuroregenerative biomolecule properties: BBB crossing does not alter the neuroregenerative properties of NV. A. Cartoon of the CPM based NV (i.e., CPM-NV) and its disabled counterpart (i.e., CPM-NVΔ). B. Axon regeneration by CPM-NV in an in cellulo scratch assay (right panel). CPM-NVΔ cannot trigger axon regeneration (left panel), scale bar 100 µm. C. CPM-NV can cross the endothelial cell and regenerate axons on the neurons of the BBB-Minibrain when applied 4 h before the lesion: (upper panel) scheme of the experiment; (lower panel) quantification of the regeneration. D. CPM-NV is also active in a therapeutically protocol when it is applied 1 h after the wounding: (upper panel) scheme of the experiment; (lower panel) quantification of the regeneration. Unpaired student’s t-test two tailed ****p<0.0001. Regeneration was calculated from triplicate experiments (>800 neurons counted) after staining of the neuronal cells. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
In this article we demonstrated how to build an in cellulo blood/brain interface, the BBB-Minibrain, by combining a BBB model and a culture of mixed brain cerebral cells (Minibrain) into a single kit. This system is biologically relevant, easy to set up and handle for experimenters well trained in cell culture.
As for any other in vitro model of BBB, reliable results would be obtained if drastic control of tightness of the barrier is applied. Inserts should be carefully tested for permeability and any insert with inadequate permeability values (i.e., a PeLY higher than 1.2) should be discarded.
FBS samples should be carefully tested to identify a batch that does not disable the characteristics of the BBB. The same advice can be made regarding the vehicle medium in which virus particles or biomolecules are diluted. It is also recommended to keep as small as possible the volume of biomolecule or virus suspension, in order to not alter the medium composition of the luminal compartment.Differentiation of human co-culture neuron/astrocytes culture from the Ntera/CL2.D1 is a proven technology. In contrast to human neurons which are post-mitotic, astrocytes are still dividing cells. High proliferation of the astrocytes cells is sometimes observed. If this happens, the Minibrain culture has to be discarded. The CHME/Cl5 cells we used in our laboratory were phenotyped to prove that they were of human origin (Homo sapiens CCNT1 phenotyping). There is a risk that some CHME lots used in some laboratories may be of rat (Rattus norvegicus) origin as claimed by Garcia-Mesa Y. et al. (2017)46. Therefore, it is recommended to check for the origin of the CHME/Cl5 cell line.
The Minibrain human tri-culture system including post mitotic neurons (mainly dopaminergic), astrocytes and a microglial cell line, mimics a simplified cerebral environment. This system can still be improved. One can imagine adding oligodendrocytes to the culture with the goal to obtain myelinated axons or primary microglial cells. The minibrain can also be replaced with a mixed culture of human-derived stem cells19,20,21. Nevertheless, the variability between different lots of cells will have to be carefully mastered. The BBB-Minibrain complexity can also be increased by adding pericytes23. In our hands, this improvement was impeded by the difficulty to have reliable access to pericytes of human origin.
We have demonstrated the feasibility and usefulness of this kit mimicking the blood-brain interface, to i) isolate rare neuroinvasive virus particles from a Yellow Fever vaccine sample that have evolved the property to enter the brain through the BBB, and ii) amplify these neuroinvasive sub-populations in the Minibrain tri-culture mimicking a simplified brain parenchyma. Future applications can be to extend the quality control of other live vaccines such as the mumps vaccine and to promote the BBB-Minibrain as a mean to study neurovirulence features in vitro.
The second pilot study was to show that a drug candidate passes through the BBB and reaches the Minibrain, without losing its neuro-regenerative properties. We are strongly convinced that the BBB-Minibrain can allow major advances in the pre-sorting of molecules before releasing them to preclinical tests. The use of the BBB-Minibrain should facilitate the implementation of 3Rs measures aimed at reducing the use of animal testing for both reglementary assays and experimental research.
Altogether with the next development of in silico approaches (computer model), we will soon be able to identify drug candidates with a high probability of crossing the BBB, the development of a 3D model In cellulo mimicking the nervous parenchyma blood interface would be of great help.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This study was supported by internal grants from Institut Pasteur including an Incitative grant (PTR 435) and by a grant “Contrat de Soutien à la Recherche” provided by Sanofi Pasteur to Institut Pasteur. A. da Costa was supported by the Sanofi-Pasteur grant and Florian Bakoa is recipient of a PhD grant provided by ANRT (Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie). We are indebted to Pr Pierre-Olivier Couraud and Dr Florence Miller for helpful discussions.
12 well plates | Corning | 3336 | |
5-fluoro-2’deoxyuridine | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | F0503 | |
85mm Petri Dish | Sarstedt | 83-3902-500 | |
Anti-Nf200 | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | N4142 | |
β-mercapto-ethanol | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | M3148 | |
CHME/Cl5 | Unité de Neuroimmunologie Virale | On request to Dr Lafon | |
CMC | Calbiochem | 217274 | |
Cytosine β-D-arabinofuranoside | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | C1768 | |
Dark 96 well plates | Corning | 3915 | |
DMEM F12 | Thermofisher Scientific | 31330-038 | |
DMSO | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | D2650 | |
Endogro IV | Millipore | SCME004 | endothelial cell medium |
Ethanol | Carlo Erba | 529121 | |
FBS | Hyclone | SV30015-04 | |
Formaldehyde | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | 252549 | |
GIEMSA | RAL Diagnostic | 320310 | |
Goat-Anti Mouse | Jackson Immuno Research | 115-545-003 | |
Goat-Anti Rabbit | Thermofisher Scientific | R37117 | |
HBSS with Ca2+-Mg2+ | Thermofisher Scientific | 14025-100 | |
hCMEC/D3 | Cedarlane | CLU512 | |
Hepes 1M | Thermofisher Scientific | 15630-070 | |
Hoescht 33342 | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | 33263 | |
Laminine | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | L6274 | |
L-glutamin | Thermofisher Scientific | 25030-024 | |
Lucifer Yellow | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | L0259 | |
MEM 10X | Thermofisher Scientific | 21430 | |
MEM 1X | Thermofisher Scientific | 42360 | |
Ntera/Cl2D.1 | ATCC | CRL-1973 | |
Paraformaldehyde | Electron Microscopy Sciences | 15714 | |
PBS without Ca2+-Mg2+ | Thermofisher Scientific | 14190 | |
PBS-Ca2+-Mg2+ | Thermofisher Scientific | 14040-091 | |
Pen/Strep | Eurobio | CXXPES00-07 | |
Poly-d-Lysine | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | P1149 | |
Prolong Gold | Thermofisher Scientific | P36930 | |
Qiashredder | QIAGEN | 79656 | |
Rat Collagen I | Cultrex | 3443-100-01 | |
Retinoic Acid All-Trans | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | R2625 | |
RNA purification kit | QIAGEN | 74104 | |
SDS | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | L4509 | |
Sodium bicarbonate 5.6% | Eurobio | CXXBIC00-07 | |
Sodium Pyruvate | Thermofisher Scientific | 11360 | |
T75 Cell+ Flask | Sarstedt | 83-1813-302 | Tissue culture polystyrene flask with specific surface treatment (Cell+) for sensitive adherent cells |
Transwell | Corning | 3460 | polyester porous membrane culture inserts |
Trypsin-EDTA | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | T3924 | |
Ultra Pure Water | Thermofisher Scientific | 10977-035 | |
Uridine | Merck-Sigma Aldrich | U3750 | |
Versene | Thermofisher Scientific | 15040-033 | EDTA |
YFV-FNV | IP Dakar | Vaccine vial |