Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.

The geometrical confinement of small cell colonies gives differential cues to cells sitting at the periphery versus the core. To utilize this effect, for example to create spatially graded differentiation patterns of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in vitro or to investigate underpinning mechan...

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Main Authors: Nobuyuki Tanaka, Tadahiro Yamashita, Asako Sato, Viola Vogel, Yo Tanaka
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173647&type=printable
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author Nobuyuki Tanaka
Tadahiro Yamashita
Asako Sato
Viola Vogel
Yo Tanaka
author_facet Nobuyuki Tanaka
Tadahiro Yamashita
Asako Sato
Viola Vogel
Yo Tanaka
author_sort Nobuyuki Tanaka
collection DOAJ
description The geometrical confinement of small cell colonies gives differential cues to cells sitting at the periphery versus the core. To utilize this effect, for example to create spatially graded differentiation patterns of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in vitro or to investigate underpinning mechanisms, the confinement needs to be robust for extended time periods. To create highly repeatable micro-fabricated structures for cellular patterning and high-throughput data mining, we employed here a simple casting method to fabricate more than 800 adhesive patches confined by agarose micro-walls. In addition, a machine learning based image processing software was developed (open code) to detect the differentiation patterns of the population of hMSCs automatically. Utilizing the agarose walls, the circular patterns of hMSCs were successfully maintained throughout 15 days of cell culture. After staining lipid droplets and alkaline phosphatase as the markers of adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation, respectively, the mega-pixels of RGB color images of hMSCs were processed by the software on a laptop PC within several minutes. The image analysis successfully showed that hMSCs sitting on the more central versus peripheral sections of the adhesive circles showed adipogenic versus osteogenic differentiation as reported previously, indicating the compatibility of patterned agarose walls to conventional microcontact printing. In addition, we found a considerable fraction of undifferentiated cells which are preferentially located at the peripheral part of the adhesive circles, even in differentiation-inducing culture media. In this study, we thus successfully demonstrated a simple framework for analyzing the patterned differentiation of hMSCs in confined microenvironments, which has a range of applications in biology, including stem cell biology.
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spelling doaj-art-aaa034562f2d4662a8a650d6f337b4062025-08-20T02:03:12ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01124e017364710.1371/journal.pone.0173647Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.Nobuyuki TanakaTadahiro YamashitaAsako SatoViola VogelYo TanakaThe geometrical confinement of small cell colonies gives differential cues to cells sitting at the periphery versus the core. To utilize this effect, for example to create spatially graded differentiation patterns of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in vitro or to investigate underpinning mechanisms, the confinement needs to be robust for extended time periods. To create highly repeatable micro-fabricated structures for cellular patterning and high-throughput data mining, we employed here a simple casting method to fabricate more than 800 adhesive patches confined by agarose micro-walls. In addition, a machine learning based image processing software was developed (open code) to detect the differentiation patterns of the population of hMSCs automatically. Utilizing the agarose walls, the circular patterns of hMSCs were successfully maintained throughout 15 days of cell culture. After staining lipid droplets and alkaline phosphatase as the markers of adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation, respectively, the mega-pixels of RGB color images of hMSCs were processed by the software on a laptop PC within several minutes. The image analysis successfully showed that hMSCs sitting on the more central versus peripheral sections of the adhesive circles showed adipogenic versus osteogenic differentiation as reported previously, indicating the compatibility of patterned agarose walls to conventional microcontact printing. In addition, we found a considerable fraction of undifferentiated cells which are preferentially located at the peripheral part of the adhesive circles, even in differentiation-inducing culture media. In this study, we thus successfully demonstrated a simple framework for analyzing the patterned differentiation of hMSCs in confined microenvironments, which has a range of applications in biology, including stem cell biology.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173647&type=printable
spellingShingle Nobuyuki Tanaka
Tadahiro Yamashita
Asako Sato
Viola Vogel
Yo Tanaka
Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
PLoS ONE
title Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
title_full Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
title_fullStr Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
title_full_unstemmed Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
title_short Simple agarose micro-confinement array and machine-learning-based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
title_sort simple agarose micro confinement array and machine learning based classification for analyzing the patterned differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173647&type=printable
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