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Tan J, Virtue S, Norris DM, Conway OJ, Yang M, Bidault G, Gribben C, Lugtu F, Kamzolas I, Krycer JR, Mills RJ, Liang L, Pereira C, Dale M, Shun-Shion AS, Baird HJ, Horscroft JA, Sowton AP, Ma M, Carobbio S, Petsalaki E, Murray AJ, Gershlick DC, Nathan JA, Hudson JE, Vallier L, Fisher-Wellman KH, Frezza C, Vidal-Puig A, Fazakerley DJ. Limited oxygen in standard cell culture alters metabolism and function of differentiated cells. EMBO J 2024:10.1038/s44318-024-00084-7. [PMID: 38580776 DOI: 10.1038/s44318-024-00084-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The in vitro oxygen microenvironment profoundly affects the capacity of cell cultures to model physiological and pathophysiological states. Cell culture is often considered to be hyperoxic, but pericellular oxygen levels, which are affected by oxygen diffusivity and consumption, are rarely reported. Here, we provide evidence that several cell types in culture actually experience local hypoxia, with important implications for cell metabolism and function. We focused initially on adipocytes, as adipose tissue hypoxia is frequently observed in obesity and precedes diminished adipocyte function. Under standard conditions, cultured adipocytes are highly glycolytic and exhibit a transcriptional profile indicative of physiological hypoxia. Increasing pericellular oxygen diverted glucose flux toward mitochondria, lowered HIF1α activity, and resulted in widespread transcriptional rewiring. Functionally, adipocytes increased adipokine secretion and sensitivity to insulin and lipolytic stimuli, recapitulating a healthier adipocyte model. The functional benefits of increasing pericellular oxygen were also observed in macrophages, hPSC-derived hepatocytes and cardiac organoids. Our findings demonstrate that oxygen is limiting in many terminally-differentiated cell types, and that considering pericellular oxygen improves the quality, reproducibility and translatability of culture models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joycelyn Tan
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Sam Virtue
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK.
| | - Dougall M Norris
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Olivia J Conway
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Ming Yang
- MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0XZ, UK
- CECAD Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, 50931, Germany
| | - Guillaume Bidault
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Christopher Gribben
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0AW, UK
| | - Fatima Lugtu
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0AW, UK
| | - Ioannis Kamzolas
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - James R Krycer
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, 4006, Australia
- Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
| | - Richard J Mills
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, 4006, Australia
- Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
| | - Lu Liang
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Conceição Pereira
- Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK
| | - Martin Dale
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Amber S Shun-Shion
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Harry Jm Baird
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - James A Horscroft
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EL, UK
| | - Alice P Sowton
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EL, UK
| | - Marcella Ma
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Stefania Carobbio
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
- Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe, Valencia, 46012, Spain
| | - Evangelia Petsalaki
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Andrew J Murray
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EL, UK
| | - David C Gershlick
- Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK
| | - James A Nathan
- Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0AW, UK
| | - James E Hudson
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, 4006, Australia
- Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Ludovic Vallier
- Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0AW, UK
| | - Kelsey H Fisher-Wellman
- Department of Physiology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27834, USA
- East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27834, USA
- UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Christian Frezza
- MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0XZ, UK
- CECAD Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, 50931, Germany
| | - Antonio Vidal-Puig
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK.
- Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe, Valencia, 46012, Spain.
| | - Daniel J Fazakerley
- Metabolic Research Laboratories, Wellcome-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK.
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