Abstract
In the Hollywood blockbuster “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” a fantastical fable unfolds of a man’s life that travels through time reversing the aging process; as the tale progresses, the frail old man becomes a vigorous, vivacious young man, then man becomes boy and boy becomes baby. The reality of cellular time travel, however, is far more wondrous: we now have the ability to both reverse and then forward time on mature cells. Four proteins were found to rewind the molecular clock of adult cells back to their embryonic, “blank canvas” pluripotent stem cell state, allowing these pluripotent stem cells to then be differentiated to fast forward their molecular clocks to the desired adult specialist cell types. These four proteins – the “Yamanaka factors” – form critical elements of this cellular time travel, which deservedly won Shinya Yamanaka the Nobel Prize for his lab’s work discovering them. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) hold much promise in our understanding of physiology and medicine. They encapsulate the signaling pathways of the desired cell types, such as cardiomyocytes or neurons, and thus act as model cells for defining the critical ion channel activity in healthy and disease states. Since hiPSCs can be derived from any patient, highly specific, personalized (or stratified) physiology, and/or pathophysiology can be defined, leading to exciting developments in personalized medicines and interventions. As such, hiPSC married with high throughput automated patch clamp (APC) ion channel recording platforms provide a foundation for significant physiological, medical and drug discovery advances. This review aims to summarize the current state of affairs of hiPSC and APC: the background and recent advances made; and the pros, cons and challenges of these technologies. Whilst the authors have yet to finalize a fully functional time traveling machine, they will endeavor to provide plausible future projections on where hiPSC and APC are likely to carry us. One future projection the authors are confident in making is the increasing necessity and adoption of these technologies in the discovery of the next blockbuster, this time a life-enhancing ion channel drug, not a fantastical movie.
Introduction
When Takahashi and Yamanaka discovered four genes (c-Myc, Oct3/4, Sox2, and Klf4), whose protein products were shown to reprogram (induce) somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells (), these Yamanaka factors were heralded as a breakthrough in biomedical research (). For the first time, pluripotency, the ability to form a range of specialized cell types from a pluripotent cell, was possible from mature, adult somatic cells, no longer requiring embryonic stem cells (; ).
The limited availability of embryonic tissue to derive embryonic stem cells coupled with legal and ethical regulations, always stymied stem cell research development and progress (; ; ). With the discovery of the Yamanaka factors, somatic cells could be taken from adult tissue and reprogrammed, turning back the clock on mature cells to an embryonic-like, pluripotent state. The processes where pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are differentiated and matured, allows fast-forwarding of cells into specialized cell lines providing model cells for in vitro research ().
The use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has a number of advantages: it reduces the use of animal tissue; compared to cells overexpressing recombinant protein [e.g., Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)] human cells are more physiologically relevant and translatable models; in comparison with primary cells, such as tissue dissociated cardiomyocytes and neurons, they are easier to access (typically from a blood or skin sample) and to maintain in culture; hiPSCs can be derived from both healthy and patient populations, providing both human “wild type” control and diseased models; and, since hiPSCs can be derived from any of us, the options to study a personal genotype and phenotype are broad, allowing for truly personalized (also termed precision or stratified) medicines and interventions (; ; ). This technology, however, has limitations worth considering, such as: the fetal nature of hiPSCs; the lifespan in culture; the long-term maturation process (for details on the challenges and limitations see the following section “Maturity and Subtype Specificity of hiPSC-Derived Cell Lines”).
Whilst these seminal developments in generating and differentiating hiPSCs were taking place, similar strides were being made in ion channel recording techniques. The dazzlingly brilliant but highly time consuming and technically challenging manual patch clamp (MPC) technique () was simplified, made faster and more efficient, through a combination of planar patch clamp and automation (). By switching from manual micro-manipulation of a single recording electrode down onto an adherent cell in MPC, to the application of cell suspensions by robot pipettors to arrays of electrodes in automated patch clamp (APC), the technical hurdles were lowered whilst vastly increasing throughput of ion channel recordings.
Thus, with hiPSCs and APC, researchers now have the capabilities to characterize ion channel populations in hiPSCs and their differentiated cell lines, for instance exploring the effect of different reprogramming, differentiation and maturation conditions and introducing quantifiable metrics for quality assessment. Furthermore, as the hiPSC technology develops, APC will be applicable for safety pharmacology and drug screens in highly translatable hiPSC model cell lines from healthy and disease patient populations.
In this review, the authors aim to describe advances in the generation of mature hiPSC-derived cell lines; developments in cell suspension preparation for APC measurements; APC techniques and technologies that have made these once challenging ion channel recordings more successful, physiologically relevant, and amenable to high throughput screening; and the key challenges solved thus far and those to be faced. Finally, we provide examples of novel applications of hiPSCs and APC. These techniques offer huge potential to advance biomedical research and drug discovery, and the future they project looks to be bright and filled with many novel and exciting findings.
Reprogramming, Differentiation, and Maturation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cell Lines
During the last decade, substantial effort has gone into developing protocols for generating specialized hiPSC-derived cells and tissues for applications within a range of areas, such as blood, smooth muscle, liver, heart, and brain (; ; ).
In general, the formation of different specialized hiPSC derived cells follow the same sequence of events: (1) the reprogramming (induction) of human unipotent somatic cells into hiPSCs by directed expression of certain transcriptional factors; and, (2) the differentiation and maturation of hiPSCs into specialized cells, typically by using signaling pathway agonists and antagonists in specific concentrations to induce stepwise progression through the embryonic development stages (; Figure 1).
FIGURE 1
In this section we aim to summarize the latest methodological advances of hiPSC generation and differentiation and discuss the key challenges in the field.
Genetic Variability of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cell Lines
A challenge with hiPSC-derived cell lines is the genetic variability existing within and between hiPSC populations, and an ongoing task is to control and maintain genome integrity during reprogramming and differentiation (
Another focus is the inherent biological variability between donors stemming from their individual genetic and epigenetic background (
Maturity and Subtype Specificity of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cell Lines
A further key challenge is to improve the maturity and subtype specificity of hiPSC-derived cell lines. Despite improved protocols for producing specific somatic cell types and subtypes, the vast majority of hiPSC-directed differentiations produce populations that most closely resemble fetal or neonatal cells (
Strategies to improve cell maturation during differentiation are many (see Figure 2) and include: the addition of specific chemical cues during differentiation (
FIGURE 2

Strategies for improving hiPSC maturity. Several strategies are used to improve the maturity and phenotype specificity of hiPSC-derived cell lines. However, the mechanism and efficiency of these strategies are still being explored and requires rigorous characterization and quality control. Adapted from
Cell reprogramming, differentiation and maturation are manipulations that lead to many intracellular changes that can affect the lifespan of cells. Indeed, a somatic cell obtained from a patient which is “rejuvenated” into a stem-cell like phenotype, shows intracellular signatures such as an active telomerase activity and immature mitochondria, as well as a decrease in senescence markers [e.g., senescence marker p21, (
Due to these intracellular changes, additional challenges arise when referring to how the age of patients could influence the functionality and maturity of hiPSC-derived models and whether it is feasible to apply this technology in age-related diseases. There is also an increasing need to perform safety pharmacology in “aged” senescent cells to functionally model and translate the complex physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology of the aging, senior population, particularly in light of the growth of this demographic (
In addressing these challenges, there is a need to define quality standards during hiPSC reprogramming and differentiation, as well as rigorous and statistically sound characterization of the final product (
Electrophysiological Measurements of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cell Lines Using Automated Patch Clamp
Ion channels represent attractive targets in hiPSC-derived cell lines, making electrophysiological studies of hiPSC-derived cell lines important not only for characterization (as mentioned above), but also for advances in biomedical research including drug discovery and development. The HT nature of APC that enables recordings of large datasets within a few days or even hours, makes this method ideal for applications such as: quantification of inter-patient or inter-batch variability; identification of cell sub-populations within the same batch, based on their ion channel content; and HT drug screening.
In this section we summarize the latest advances and challenges toward making such APC measurements possible.
Advances and Recent Developments
Electrophysiological methods, such as MPC, have been extensively employed for characterization of hiPSC-derived cell lines over the years (
FIGURE 3

Dissociation of hiPSC-derived cell lines. Top row: Micrographs of hiPSC-CMs before (left) and after (right) dissociation. Bottom row: Dissociation of hiPSC-derived cell lines typically include a sequence of steps for example replating (1) followed by gentle dissociation methods (2) to obtain a homogeneous, healthy single-cell suspension suitable for APC measurements. Adapted from
Initial with hiPSC-derived cell lines focused on APC assay development, including cell-handling on the machine; intra- and extra-cellular recording solutions; and, the suction protocols employed to position the cell and rupture the membrane, the so-called whole-cell conformation, to allow electrical access to the interior of the cell. However, progress has been slow, with only minor improvements in experiment success rate and reproducibility. It has become increasingly evident that working with hiPSC-derived cell lines demands a greater understanding of the cell population than working with clonal, homogenous immortalized cell lines. This includes the process of generating hiPSC-derived cell lines (as discussed in the section above), characterization and quality control of the final product and specialized dissociation methods for generating purer, more homogenous cell suspensions.
Whilst measurements on hiPSC-derived cell lines have progressed slowly, the technological development of APC features have advanced at a faster pace. This includes: the exchange of external and internal solutions; fast compound addition and wash out; perforated patch methods (
One major difference of APC compared to other methods typically used for hiPSC measurements, such as MPC, multielectrode-array (
The preferred harvest protocol will depend on the cell type, quality and culturing days and will likely evolve continuously (also, see Figure 3). Dissociating hiPSC-derived cell lines into single-cell suspensions is often challenging (especially CMs and neurons), due to the formation of tight cellular “tissue”-like structures and networks that must be disrupted. In general, the longer the cells have been cultured, the tighter the connections become, increasing the possibility of damage during cell harvest. For APC it is of utmost importance to work with a healthy, homogenous cell suspension that is free of debris. Improvements involve: using gentle dissociating enzymes (e.g., TrypLE™, Gibco, United States; Accutase™, Stemcell Technologies, United States; or Papain, Sigma-Aldrich, United States); cold-harvest and/or incubation; addition of protective chemicals to ensure membrane integrity (e.g., ROCK inhibitor, blebbistatin) and prevent stickiness (DNase); replating for 24 h – 1 week; filtering to remove aggregates and possibly positive selection based on surface markers (
Even with the aforementioned challenges, the field is now rapidly advancing and with the existing cell quality and suspension preparation methods researchers have made significant progress in exploring and developing the possibilities of measuring hiPSC-derived cell lines using APC (
Novel Applications of Automated Patch Clamp and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cell Lines
Originally hiPSC-derived cell lines were mainly considered for applications in regenerative medicine (
In this section we provide examples of some of these novel APC applications for studies of hiPSC-derived cell lines.
Ion Channel Analysis (Quality Control) in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cell Lines
A challenge of hiPSC-derived cells is that they typically display heterogeneous current expression. This might be due to different maturation states, different cell types, genetic, and/or biological variability. In APC, currents are recorded in parallel from many cells. This makes APC well suited to characterize cell populations and identify subpopulations (
FIGURE 4

Characterizing mixed ion channel populations in hiPSC-derived cortical neurons. (A) Quality control filters allow selection of cells expressing the ion channels of interest. Top: Cut-out of the measurement plate view showing 24 of 384 experiments. Red and green borders correspond to experiments that failed and passed, respectively, the initial filter criteria (Rmem > 500 MΩ, Ccell > 1.5 pF). The experiments highlighted in yellow passed filter criteria for Nav and Kv currents. Bottom: Example of a population of current traces (black) elicited by + 5 mV voltage-steps (red) recorded from a neuron, expressing Nav channels and a mixture of delayed rectifier and A-type Kv channels. (B) The percentage (average ± SEM) of investigated cells containing Nav and Kv channels were displayed for three different differentiation batches of hiPSC cortical neurons (Nexp = 2 experiment days, with > 48 measurement sites per experiment). Of the cells expressing Kv channels, the percentage of Kv expressing cells also having A-type Kv currents are overlayed (diagonal pattern). No significant differences were observed between the three batches (
Action Potential Measurements in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-Derived Cardiomyocytes and Neurons
Measurements of cardiac APs are of special interest for disease modeling, drug discovery and cardiac safety (
FIGURE 5

Ion channel content in hiPSC-CMs versus human primary CMs. A comparison of action potential and ion channel currents recorded in (A) hiPSC-CMs and (B) human primary adult CMs. The associated genes and ion channels are listed on the right. From the top the currents are: If, pacemaker or funny current; ICaT, T-type calcium channel current; INa, sodium current; ICaL, L-type calcium channel current; Ito, transient outward potassium current; IKr, rapid delayed- rectifier potassium current; IKs, slow delayed-rectifier potassium current; and IK1, inward-rectifier potassium current. The traces highlight differences traditionally observed in hiPSC-CMs, such as the presence of the pacemaker current If (routinely expressed in immature CMs and lost in adult CMs) and reduced densities of hyperpolarizing current IK1. Adapted from
Different methods have been employed to compensate for missing currents. For example, a method that is increasingly being used is enhancing missing currents using viral transfection (
Finally, the maturation of hiPSC-CMs has improved recently, and the paradigm of impaired IK1 expression in hiPSC-CMs has been challenged (
FIGURE 6

APC measurements of IK1 current-voltage relationship in hiPSC-CMs using physiological solutions. (A) Representative K+ current traces in response to a voltage step protocol from –110 mV to +10 mV with 10 mV increment step size (black). The current was measured in 5 mM extracellular K+ (gray, left) and 75 mM extracellular K+ before (black) and after (red) addition of 1 mM BaCl2 (right). (B) The BaCl2 sensitive IK1 was calculated by subtracting the insensitive current (red trace in A) from the total IK (black trace in A). (C) The IK1 current-voltage relationship was plotted by extracting the average steady-state sensitive current (shown in B) and plotting as a function of step voltage. Adapted from
As observed with hiPSC-CMs, hiPSC-neurons (including several subtypes, such as motor neurons and sensory neurons) do not completely replicate the adult neuron phenotype in terms of morphology, electrical function, and critically, in resembling neurodegenerative disease features (
The high throughput of APC allows sufficient data generation to accurately define heterogeneous ion channel populations in hiPSC-CMs, correlating channel levels to the resulting AP firing properties (
FIGURE 7

APC current-clamp measurements of paced action potentials and APD90 concentration-response plots. (A) The percentage of successful experiments displaying paced action potentials [Vp > 0 mV, resting membrane potential (RMP) < –40 mV]. Data is avg ± SD of three measurement plates (each of 48 recording sites). Assay success rate was 10%–30% out of 48 sites. (B) Paced action potentials from 10 individual hiPSC-CMs within a single measurement plate (left) and an expanded action potential displaying the extracted parameters: threshold potential (Vt), peak potential (Vp), hyperpolarization potential (Vh), and action potential duration at 90% repolarization (APD90). (C) Plot of extracted parameters, Vt (red), Vp (gray), Vh (blue), and APD90 (green, ms) for 18 individual hiPSC-CMs with the avg ± SD (solid lines). (D) Paced action potentials for saline controls (black traces) and in response to increasing concentrations of Bay K8644 (top, traces in shades of red) and nifedipine (bottom, traces in shades of green). (E) Plots of APD90 versus compound concentration with Boltzmann fits including EC50 or IC50 calculated values, recorded in a single cell. (F) Cumulative concentration-response (average, APD90 normalized to pre compound concentration) relationships with Boltzmann fits including EC50 or IC50 calculated values. Data points are avg ± SEM of Ncells. Adapted from
Disease Modeling, Drug-Screening, and Personalized Medicine
As the quality of hiPSC-derived cell lines increases, an obvious next step will be to utilize the HT capability of APC for studying disease models, drug-screening and personalized (or stratified) medicine (
Although examples of APC applications within personalized biomedicine are still scarce, their need and value mean they are in active development (
FIGURE 8

APC evaluation of compound effects on Nav channel properties in SMA hiPSC-neurons. Parallel recordings of control neurons (black), SMA neurons (orange), and SMA neurons treated with SMN-C3 during culturing (blue). (A) Average Nav current versus step voltage. (B) Quantification of the current amplitude at –20 mV. The current amplitude is significantly larger in SMA cells than in control cells [Student’s t-test, p < 0.05 (*), 95% confidence interval]. (C) Average Nav current normalized to the current recorded at V = –20 mV. Fitting of a Boltzmann function (solid lines) yielded the half-activation voltage (, mV). (D) Half-activation voltage () values. Error bars are SEM. Adapted from
Future Perspectives
As highlighted in this review, the advances made in our labs and amongst APC and stem cell researchers across the world in the last few years have catapulted this niche, often challenging, area of research into the limelight, and is becoming widely adopted amongst the stem cell and drug discovery communities (
Jumping into the fabled time traveling DeLorean car and heading back to the future: one area that is likely to feature heavily in the future of stem cell and ion channel research are the possibilities afforded by patient-derived hiPSCs. Measuring and defining an individual patient’s hiPSCs (such as their ion channel composition, pharmacology and biophysics) will allow the design of personalized, targeted medical interventions (
Taking this concept of measuring and defining patient hiPSCs a step further: by identifying patient genotypes (by gene or genome sequencing) involved in a panel of potential health issues specific to the patient, these can be correlated to ion channel phenotypes determined using APC recordings of patient-derived hiPSCs, across a range of cell types. Such patient genotype/phenotype correlation (“phenotypic screening”) will allow existing health issues to be identified and addressed (
In conclusion, the marriage of hiPSC and APC offers much potential for ion channel biomedical research and drug discovery. The possibilities of defining ion channel activity, biophysics and pharmacology in specialized cells (like CMs and neuronal cells), including cells derived from healthy or diseased patients, provide model cells to efficiently perform APC driven in vitro studies and high throughput screens that increasingly translate to human clinical studies (
Publisher’s Note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Statements
Author contributions
KR structured the manuscript and coordinated the writing process, and produced the experimental data included in the manuscript. KR, BB, and DB prepared the first version of the manuscript. SK, DN, NV, and FS reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Funding
The work of NV is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; VO 1568/3-1, VO 1568/4-1, IRTG1816 project 12, SFB1002 project A13, and under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2067/1- 390729940) and the DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research, 81X300189, 81X4300102, 81X4300115, and 81X4300112).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Jane Lucas for assistance with figure preparation. hiPSC-neurons were provided by Boston Children’s Hospital and BrainXell. HiPSC-CMs were provided by NV, Göttingen.
Conflict of interest
KR, BB, SK, and DB are employed by Sophion Bioscience A/S, Denmark. DN was employed by Sophion Bioscience Inc., United States. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Abbreviations
- APs
action potentials
- APC
automated patch clamp
- CMs
cardiomyocytes
- hiPSC
human induced pluripotent stem cell
- HT
high throughput
- MPC
manual patch clamp
- PSCs
pluripotent stem cells.
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Summary
Keywords
hiPSC, stem cells, automated patch clamp, cardiomyocytes, neurons, ion channels
Citation
Rosholm KR, Badone B, Karatsiompani S, Nagy D, Seibertz F, Voigt N and Bell DC (2022) Adventures and Advances in Time Travel With Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Automated Patch Clamp. Front. Mol. Neurosci. 15:898717. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.898717
Received
17 March 2022
Accepted
13 May 2022
Published
22 June 2022
Volume
15 - 2022
Edited by
Marc Rogers, Metrion Biosciences Limited, United Kingdom
Reviewed by
Edward Humphries, AstraZeneca, United Kingdom; Jessica Elaine Young, University of Washington, United States
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© 2022 Rosholm, Badone, Karatsiompani, Nagy, Seibertz, Voigt and Bell.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Kadla R. Rosholm, krr@sophion.com
This article was submitted to Molecular Signalling and Pathways, a section of the journal Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
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