XF Technology Used to Demonstrate Feasibility of Stem Cell Regenerative Technique

BILLERICA, Mass., July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Seahorse Bioscience, the industry leader in tools for measuring cell metabolism, is the provider of XF Technology which is increasingly being adopted and utilized across all disease research areas. As the links between mitochondrial function and disease are increasingly revealed, exploration into cell metabolism is escalating rapidly.  

Recently, 12 peer-reviewed publications have been published by the Nature Publishing Group (NPG) featuring XF Technology, including Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, and Scientific Reports. These references span research areas that include cancer and cardiovascular research, to neuroscience/neurodegeneration, translational medicine, and stem cell biology. With mitochondrial function the cornerstone of energy metabolism, intracellular signaling, and regulation of cell death and survival, compromised mitochondrial function strains the cellular metabolic network resulting in disease. 

A breakthrough study led by researchers Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., and Hong Ma, M.D., Ph.D., at the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, and the Oregon National Primate Research Center, at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Beaverton, OR, revealed a critical first step in developing a new gene and stem cell regenerative technique for treating patients with mitochondrial disease. The associated paper Metabolic rescue in pluripotent cells from patients with mtDNA disease, authored by Hong Ma, et al., published July 15 in the journal Nature, has received particular acclaim.

The authors used the XF Extracellular Flux Analyzer to examine a possible treatment for mitochondrial disease, a debilitating genetic disorder that has limited treatment options. The study outlined a method for generating genetically and functionally corrected pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), from patients with common mutations that have been shown to cause mitochondrial disease. Many of these common genetic mutations associated with mitochondrial disease affect mitochondrial activity. The use of XF Technology was crucial to the assessment of mitochondrial respiration of fibroblasts derived from both disease and healthy control patients, and the determination of the functional consequences of genetic expression. Based on their analyses, the authors were able to demonstrate functional rescue in fibroblasts derived from mitochondrial disease patients, enabling a novel treatment strategy.

"Once again the importance of metabolism in maintaining cell health and physiology is highlighted by a ground-breaking study in regenerative medicine, that provides feasibility for generating genetically corrected pluripotent stem cells as a novel therapeutic approach," commented David Ferrick, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, at Seahorse Bioscience. "The authors employed the XF Cell Mito Stress Test, as well as the full power of XF Technology to definitively show corrected mitochondrial function across a large panel of critical cell types, including differentiated skeletal muscle cells,  pluripotent stem cells, neuronal progenitor cells, and cardiomyocytes."

Seahorse XF Analyzers have established standards for measuring cell metabolism by delivering meaningful new parameters for understanding the processes by which cells produce and consume energy, via the simultaneous measurement of the two major energy-producing pathways within the cell – mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis – in a microplate, in real-time. This knowledge is generating new insights into disease, and new ideas into disease treatment and therapy.

About the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)

Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon's only public academic health center. It educates health professionals and scientists and provides leading-edge patient care, community service and biomedical research. Learn more at www.ohsu.edu.

About Seahorse Bioscience

Seahorse Bioscience XF metabolic analyzers and stress test kits are the industry standard in cell metabolism measurements. Scientists worldwide are using Seahorse XF Technology to advance their research in understanding the role of cell. Learn more at www.seahorsebio.com.

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SOURCE Seahorse Bioscience

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