Quantitative Analysis of Mitochondria-Associated Endoplasmic Reticulum Membrane (MAM) Stabilization in a Neural Model of Alzheimer's Disease (AD)

A method to quantitate the stabilization of Mitochondria-Associated endoplasmic reticulum Membranes (MAMs) in a 3-dimensional (3D) neural model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is presented here. To begin, fresh human neuro progenitor ReN cells expressing β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) containing familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) or naïve ReN cells are grown in thin (1:100) Matrigel-coated tissue culture plates. After the cells reach confluency, these are electroporated with expression plasmids encoding red fluorescence protein (RFP)-conjugated mitochondria-binding sequence of AKAP1(34-63) (Mito-RFP) that detects mitochondria or constitutive MAM stabilizers MAM 1X or MAM 9X that stabilize tight (6 nm ± 1 nm gap width) or loose (24 nm ± 3 nm gap width) MAMs, respectively. After 16-24 h, the cells are harvested and enriched by a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). An equal number of FACS-enriched cells are seeded in the 3-dimensional matrix (1:1 Matrigel) and allowed to differentiate into mature neurons for 10 days. Live cell images of the 10-day differentiated cells expressing the RFP-conjugated MAM stabilizers are captured under a fluorescent microscope equipped with a live-cell imaging culture chamber maintaining the CO2 (5%), temperature (37 °C), and humidity (~90%). Toward this end, we performed live-cell imaging and kymographic analyses to measure the motility of free mitochondria labeled with Mito-RFP or ER-bound mitochondria of tight or loose gap widths stabilized by MAM 1X or MAM 9X, respectively, in the most extended neuronal process of each ReN GA neuron which is at least 500 nm long, considering these as axons.