Human Neuromuscular Junction on a Chip: Impact of Amniotic Fluid Stem Cell Extracellular Vesicles on Muscle Atrophy and NMJ Integrity

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

  • Martina Gatti
  • Dittlau, Katarina Stoklund
  • Francesca Beretti
  • Laura Yedigaryan
  • Manuela Zavatti
  • Pietro Cortelli
  • Carla Palumbo
  • Emma Bertucci
  • Ludo Van Den Bosch
  • Maurilio Sampaolesi
  • Tullia Maraldi

Neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) are specialized synapses, crucial for the communication between spinal motor neurons (MNs) and skeletal muscle. NMJs become vulnerable in degenerative diseases, such as muscle atrophy, where the crosstalk between the different cell populations fails, and the regenerative ability of the entire tissue is hampered. How skeletal muscle sends retrograde signals to MNs through NMJs represents an intriguing field of research, and the role of oxidative stress and its sources remain poorly understood. Recent works demonstrate the myofiber regeneration potential of stem cells, including amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSC), and secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) as cell-free therapy. To study NMJ perturbations during muscle atrophy, we generated an MN/myotube co-culture system through XonaTM microfluidic devices, and muscle atrophy was induced in vitro by Dexamethasone (Dexa). After atrophy induction, we treated muscle and MN compartments with AFSC-derived EVs (AFSC-EVs) to investigate their regenerative and anti-oxidative potential in counteracting NMJ alterations. We found that the presence of EVs reduced morphological and functional in vitro defects induced by Dexa. Interestingly, oxidative stress, occurring in atrophic myotubes and thus involving neurites as well, was prevented by EV treatment. Here, we provided and validated a fluidically isolated system represented by microfluidic devices for studying human MN and myotube interactions in healthy and Dexa-induced atrophic conditions—allowing the isolation of subcellular compartments for region-specific analyses—and demonstrated the efficacy of AFSC-EVs in counteracting NMJ perturbations.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer4944
TidsskriftInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Vol/bind24
Udgave nummer5
ISSN1661-6596
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023
Eksternt udgivetJa

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We thank the CIGS (Centro Interdipartimentale Grandi Strumenti, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) and Jonathan Vinet for the support in confocal live-imaging analyses. M.S. laboratory is supported by Small Research Infrastructure KU Leuven–BioAssemblyBot 400 (KA/20/088), Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (#G066821N), INTERREG–Euregio Meuse-Rhine (GYM, Generate your muscle 2020-EMR116) and the Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Finalizzata (RF-2019-12369703).

Funding Information:
This work was supported by funds from the Department of Excellence 2018–2022 (Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences). The study was also supported by funds for mobility activities for young researchers (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

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