Journal: Scientific Reports
Article Title: Zika virus vertical transmission induces neuroinflammation and synapse impairment in brain cells derived from children born with Congenital Zika Syndrome
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-65392-8
Figure Lengend Snippet: CZS-derived neurons display reduced synaptogenesis, less glutamate production and differential astrocyte quantification. ( A ) Representative images depicting morphological changes during neuronal differentiation. ( B ) Gene expression upon neuronal differentiation. Cell culture showed expression of MAP2, a neuronal marker and low expression of Musashi1, an NPC marker. ( C ) Representative image of mixed culture upon neuronal differentiation, characterization by immunofluorescence. Cells revealed expression of MAP2, a neuronal marker, and low staining for GFAP, a glial marker, in both CTRL and CZS/A groups, and even less GFAP in the CZS/B group. None of the groups showed expression for Musashi1, a progenitor cell marker. ( D ) Correlation between CZS groups and CTRL neuronal cell lines (% of MAP2 and GFAP positive cells). It is possible to observe that the CZS/A group has similar proportions of cells when compared to the CTRL ( p = 0.3131), while the CZS/B group showed a significant reduction of GFAP compared to the CTRL ( p = 0.0065). ( E ) Synapsin 1 (pre-synaptic) and PSD-95 (postsynaptic) gene expression in neurons upon 4 weeks of differentiation, by qRT-PCR/ΔΔCt. A significant reduction in the expression levels of both genes was found in the neurons of patients with CZS (both CZS/A and CZS/B), when compared to the CTRL (Synapsin 1: CZS/A: p = 0.0363; CZS/B: p = 0.0264 / PSD95: CZS/A: p = 0.0130; CZS/B: p = 0.0118). (F) Representative image of puncta co-localization, showing the expression of MAP2 (white), Synapsin 1 (green) and PSD-95 (red). (G) Analysis of synaptic puncta counting. Synapsin1 was reduced in CZS groups (CZS/A p < 0.0001, CZS/B p < 0.0001). PSD95 was reduced in CZS groups ( p < 0.0001) and even more reduced in CZS/B, when compared to the CZS/A ( p = 0.0488). Both functional puncta and co-localization were reduced in both CZS groups, when compared to the CTRL (CZS/A, p < 0.0001/ CZS/B, p < 0.0001). Lastly, CZS/B showed even less functional puncta quantification than CZS/A ( p = 0.1750). ( H ) Analysis of glutamate production in the supernatant of neuronal culture. CZS groups presented a reduction in glutamate production, when compared to the CTRL group (CTRL vs. CZS1- 1 h: p = 0.0891; 24 h: p = 0.0522; 48 h: p = 0.0655; 72 h: p = 0.0584; 96 h: p = 0.0530 / CTRL vs. CZS2- 1 h: p = 0.1079; 24 h: p = 0.1120; 48 h: p = 0.3017; 72 h: p = 0.1841; 96 h: p = 0.1645 / CTRL vs. CZS3- 1 h: p = 0.0401; 24 h: p = 0.1211; 48 h: p = 0.9999; 72 h: p = 0.7336; 96 h: p = 0.5877 / CTRL vs. CZS4- 1 h: p = 0.0011; 24 h: p = 0.2016; 48 h: p = 0.9913; 72 h: p > 0.9999; 96 h: p = 0.9956). Glutamate levels were normalized relative to the total number of cells. ( A ) Objective magnification: 10x. 100 µm scale bars. ( C ) Objective magnification: 40x. 20 µm magnification bars. ( F ) Objective magnification: 63x. 10 µm scale bars. The statistical study was analyzed through Two-way ANOVA ( D , H ) and One-way ANOVA ( E , G ).
Article Snippet: Neural Progenitor Cells (NPC) derived from iPSC from CTRL and CZS were produced using the protocol described elsewhere , , illustrated in Fig. E. NPC revealed expression of Nestin, Sox2, and Musashi 1 (MS-1) and did not express MAP-2, confirming the NPC differentiation success (Fig. F,G).
Techniques: Derivative Assay, Gene Expression, Cell Culture, Expressing, Marker, Immunofluorescence, Staining, Quantitative RT-PCR, Functional Assay