Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling

Adequate oxygen supply is crucial for proper cellular function. The emergence of high-throughput (HT) expansion of human stem-cell-derived cells and HT in vitro cellular assays for drug testing necessitate monitoring and understanding of the oxygenation conditions, yet virtually no data exists for s...

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Main Authors: Weizhen Li, David McLeod, Sarah Antonevich, Maria R. Pozo, Zhenyu Li, Emilia Entcheva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Plus
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772976125001837
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author Weizhen Li
David McLeod
Sarah Antonevich
Maria R. Pozo
Zhenyu Li
Emilia Entcheva
author_facet Weizhen Li
David McLeod
Sarah Antonevich
Maria R. Pozo
Zhenyu Li
Emilia Entcheva
author_sort Weizhen Li
collection DOAJ
description Adequate oxygen supply is crucial for proper cellular function. The emergence of high-throughput (HT) expansion of human stem-cell-derived cells and HT in vitro cellular assays for drug testing necessitate monitoring and understanding of the oxygenation conditions, yet virtually no data exists for such settings. We used HT label-free optical measurements and computational modeling to gain insights about oxygen availability (pericellular oxygen dynamics) in syncytia of human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) and human cardiac fibroblasts (cFB) grown in glass-bottom 96-well plates under static conditions. Our experimental results highlight the critical role of cell density and solution height (oxygen delivery path) in pericellular oxygen dynamics. The developed computational model, trained on the obtained comprehensive data set, revealed that time-variant maximum oxygen consumption rate, Vmax, is needed to faithfully capture the complex pericellular oxygen dynamics in the excitable hiPSC-CMs, but not in the cFBs. Interestingly, hypoxia (<2 % pericellular oxygen) developed within hours in the dense iPSC-CM cultures when the solution volume was sufficiently large. Conversely, hiPSC-CMs grown at low cell density or in smaller solution volume, as well as cFB under all studied conditions, were found to operate in hyperoxic (>7 %) conditions. Pericellular oxygen dynamics of the differentiated hiPSC-CMs evolved over days in culture, with the best improvement in respiration seen in samples operating close to normoxia. Our results and the developed computational model can be used directly to optimize cardiac cell growth in HT plates and achieve desired physiological conditions, which is important in cellular assays for cardiotoxicity, drug development, personalized medicine and heart regeneration applications.
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spelling doaj-art-b1f78b986e2b4067979475dfb41e85ed2025-08-20T02:37:03ZengElsevierJournal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Plus2772-97612025-09-011310046410.1016/j.jmccpl.2025.100464Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modelingWeizhen Li0David McLeod1Sarah Antonevich2Maria R. Pozo3Zhenyu Li4Emilia Entcheva5Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USADepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USADepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USADepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USACorresponding authors.; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USACorresponding authors.; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USAAdequate oxygen supply is crucial for proper cellular function. The emergence of high-throughput (HT) expansion of human stem-cell-derived cells and HT in vitro cellular assays for drug testing necessitate monitoring and understanding of the oxygenation conditions, yet virtually no data exists for such settings. We used HT label-free optical measurements and computational modeling to gain insights about oxygen availability (pericellular oxygen dynamics) in syncytia of human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) and human cardiac fibroblasts (cFB) grown in glass-bottom 96-well plates under static conditions. Our experimental results highlight the critical role of cell density and solution height (oxygen delivery path) in pericellular oxygen dynamics. The developed computational model, trained on the obtained comprehensive data set, revealed that time-variant maximum oxygen consumption rate, Vmax, is needed to faithfully capture the complex pericellular oxygen dynamics in the excitable hiPSC-CMs, but not in the cFBs. Interestingly, hypoxia (<2 % pericellular oxygen) developed within hours in the dense iPSC-CM cultures when the solution volume was sufficiently large. Conversely, hiPSC-CMs grown at low cell density or in smaller solution volume, as well as cFB under all studied conditions, were found to operate in hyperoxic (>7 %) conditions. Pericellular oxygen dynamics of the differentiated hiPSC-CMs evolved over days in culture, with the best improvement in respiration seen in samples operating close to normoxia. Our results and the developed computational model can be used directly to optimize cardiac cell growth in HT plates and achieve desired physiological conditions, which is important in cellular assays for cardiotoxicity, drug development, personalized medicine and heart regeneration applications.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772976125001837Pericellular oxygeniPSC-cardiomyocytesHuman cardiac fibroblastsHigh-throughput screeningModelingMichaelis-Menten model
spellingShingle Weizhen Li
David McLeod
Sarah Antonevich
Maria R. Pozo
Zhenyu Li
Emilia Entcheva
Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling
Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Plus
Pericellular oxygen
iPSC-cardiomyocytes
Human cardiac fibroblasts
High-throughput screening
Modeling
Michaelis-Menten model
title Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling
title_full Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling
title_fullStr Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling
title_full_unstemmed Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling
title_short Pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and iPSC-cardiomyocytes in high-throughput plates: insights from experiments and modeling
title_sort pericellular oxygen dynamics in human cardiac fibroblasts and ipsc cardiomyocytes in high throughput plates insights from experiments and modeling
topic Pericellular oxygen
iPSC-cardiomyocytes
Human cardiac fibroblasts
High-throughput screening
Modeling
Michaelis-Menten model
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772976125001837
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