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The study of human neurons and their interaction with neurochemicals is difficult due to the inability to collect primary biomaterial. However, recent advances in the cultivation of human stem cells, methods for their neuronal differentiation and chimeric fluorescent calcium indicators have allowed the creation of model systems in vitro. In this paper we report on the development of a method to obtain human neurons with the GCaMP6s calcium indicator, based on a human iPSC line with the TetON–NGN2 transgene complex. The protocol we developed allows us quickly, conveniently and efficiently obtain significant amounts of human neurons suitable for the study of various neurochemicals and their effects on specific neurophysiological activity, which can be easily registered using fluorescence microscopy. In the neurons we obtained, glutamate (Glu) induces rises in [Ca2+]i which are caused by ionotropic receptors for Glu, predominantly of the NMDA-type. Taken together, these facts allow us to consider the model we have created to be a useful and successful development of this technology.

Exposure of cultured neurons to high concentrations of Glu leads to a strong depolarization of mitochondria, which develops synchronously with the secondary rise in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration (delayed calcium deregulation, DCD). In this study, using the primary culture of rat cerebellar neurons, we investigated the mechanism of neuronal sensitization, which manifests itself in the reduction of latent periods of DCD during repeated exposures to Glu. It was shown that the most likely cause of sensitization is the inability of mitochondria to maintain a high transmembrane potential (ΔΨm) as a result of an increase in the proton conductivity of the internal mitochondrial membrane, but not the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Mitochondrial dysfunction reduces the production of ATP, leading to the inability of neurons to quickly restore the concentration of Na+, ATP, and NADH in the intervals between successive Glu administrations. One of the reasons that aggravate the dysfunction of mitochondria and contribute to the sensitization of neurons to the repeated action of Glu is Ca2+ accumulated in the mitochondria during the first glutamate impact.

The MTT assay based on the reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium in the cell cytoplasm to a strongly light absorbing formazan is among the most commonly used methods for determination of cell viability and activity of NAD-dependent oxidoreductases. In the present study, the effects of MTT (0.1 mg/ml) on mitochondrial potential (ΔΨm), intracellular NADH, and respiration of cultured rat cerebellum neurons and isolated rat liver mitochondria were investigated. MTT caused rapid quenching of NADH autofluorescence, fluorescence of MitoTracker Green (MTG) and ΔΨm-sensitive probes Rh123 (rhodamine 123) and TMRM (tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester). The Rh123 signal, unlike that of NADH, MTG, and TMRM, increased in the nucleoplasm after 5-10 min, and this was accompanied by the formation of opaque aggregates of formazan in the cytoplasm and neurites. Increase in the Rh123 signal indicated diffusion of the probe from mitochondria to cytosol and nucleus due to ΔΨm decrease. Inhibition of complex I of the respiratory chain decreased the rate of formazan formation, while inhibition of complex IV increased it. Inhibition of complex III and ATP-synthase affected only insignificantly the rate of formazan formation. Inhibition of glycolysis by 2-deoxy-D-glucose blocked the MTT reduction, whereas pyruvate increased the rate of formazan formation in a concentration-dependent manner. MTT reduced the rate of oxygen consumption by cultured neurons to the value observed when respiratory chain complexes I and III were simultaneously blocked, and it suppressed respiration of isolated mitochondria if substrates oxidized by NAD-dependent dehydrogenases were used. These results demonstrate that formazan formation in cultured rat cerebellum neurons occurs primarily in mitochondria. The initial rate of formazan formation may serve as an indicator of complex I activity and pyruvate transport rate.

For the first time, simultaneous monitoring of changes in the concentration of cytosolic ATP ([ATP]c), pH (pHc), and intracellular free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) of the individual neurons challenged with toxic glutamate (Glu) concentrations was performed. To this end, the ATP-sensor AT1.03, which binds to ATP and therefore enhances the efficiency of resonance energy transfer between blue fluorescent protein (energy donor) and yellow-green fluorescent protein (energy acceptor), was expressed in cultured hippocampal neurons isolated from 1–2-day-old rat pups. Excitation of fluorescence in the acceptor protein allowed monitoring changes in pHc. Cells were loaded with fluorescent low-affinity Ca2+ indicators Fura-FF or X-rhod-FF to register [Ca2+]i. It was shown that Glu (20 μM, glycine 10 μM, Mg2+-free) produced a rapid acidification of the cytosol and decrease in [ATP]c. An approximately linear relationship (r 2 = 0.56) between the rate of [ATP]c decline and latency of glutamate-induced delayed calcium deregulation (DCD) was observed: higher rate of [ATP]c decrease corresponded to shorter DCD latency period. DCD began with a decrease in [ATP]c of as much as 15.9%. In the phase of high [Ca2+]i, the plateau of [ATP]c dropped to 10.4% compared to [ATP]c in resting neurons (100%). In the presence of the Na+/K+-ATPase inhibitor ouabain (0.5 mM), glutamate-induced reduction in [ATP]c in the phase of the high [Ca2+]i plateau was only 36.6%. Changes in [ATP]c, [Ca2+]i, mitochondrial potential, and pHc in calcium-free or sodium-free buffers, as well as in the presence of the inhibitor of Na+/K+-ATPase ouabain, led us to suggest that in addition to increase in proton conductivity and decline in [ATP]c, one of the triggering factors of DCD might be a reversion of the neuronal plasma membrane Na+/Ca2+ exchange.