Primary Cell Culture of Live Neurosurgically Resected Aged Adult Human Brain Cells and Single Cell Transcriptomics

• Published in: Cell reports (Cambridge) Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 791 - 803
• Main Authors: Spaethling, Jennifer M., Na, Young-Ji, Lee, Jaehee, Ulyanova, Alexandra V., Baltuch, Gordon H., Bell, Thomas J., Brem, Steven, Chen, H. Isaac, Dueck, Hannah, Fisher, Stephen A., Garcia, Marcela P., Khaladkar, Mugdha, Kung, David K., Lucas, Timothy H., O’Rourke, Donald M., Stefanik, Derek, Wang, Jinhui, Wolf, John A., Bartfai, Tamas, Grady, M. Sean, Sul, Jai-Yoon, Kim, Junhyong, Eberwine, James H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 17.01.2017; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; astrocyte; Brain - cytology; Brain - metabolism; Cells, Cultured; endothelial cell; Female; human; Humans; Male; microglia; Microglia - cytology; Microglia - metabolism; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Middle Aged; neuron; Neurons - cytology; Neurons - metabolism; Oligodendroglia - cytology; Oligodendroglia - metabolism; primary cell; Principal Component Analysis; RNA, Long Noncoding - metabolism; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; single cell; Single-Cell Analysis; Transcriptome; Young Adult; single cell; primary cell; endothelial cell; transcriptome; aged; neuron; adult; human; astrocyte; microglia
• ISSN: 2211-1247; 2639-1856; 2211-1247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.12.066

Investigation of human CNS disease and drug effects has been hampered by the lack of a system that enables single-cell analysis of live adult patient brain cells. We developed a culturing system, based on a papain-aided procedure, for resected adult human brain tissue removed during neurosurgery. We performed single-cell transcriptomics on over 300 cells, permitting identification of oligodendrocytes, microglia, neurons, endothelial cells, and astrocytes after 3 weeks in culture. Using deep sequencing, we detected over 12,000 expressed genes, including hundreds of cell-type-enriched mRNAs, lncRNAs and pri-miRNAs. We describe cell-type- and patient-specific transcriptional hierarchies. Single-cell transcriptomics on cultured live adult patient derived cells is a prime example of the promise of personalized precision medicine. Because these cells derive from subjects ranging in age into their sixties, this system permits human aging studies previously possible only in rodent systems. [Display omitted] •A system for culturing adult human neuronal cells after neurosurgery is presented•Among the many adult human brain cells that are long-term cultured are neurons•Human brain cell-type-enriched pri-miRNAs and lncRNAs are characterized•Cell-type- and patient-specific transcriptional hierarchies were revealed Human CNS disease is best studied in human neuronal cells. Spaethling et al. have succeeded in performing long-term primary cell culture and single-cell transcriptomics of human adult brain cells, including neurons from patients up to 67 years of age.