Separation, isolation, and membrane lipid profiling of selectively vulnerable and resilient neurons
- 1Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Abstract
Certain neurons are more susceptible to pathogenic stressors and degenerate, while others remain resilient in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying this cell-to-cell heterogeneity in neuronal vulnerability remain unclear, primarily due to challenges in isolating vulnerable and resilient neurons to characterize their properties. In this study, we report the development of a novel cell-labeling method utilizing two cell-impermeable dyes to identify vulnerable and resilient neurons in culture, which are subsequently separated and isolated via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). As a proof-of-concept of a mechanistic study, we conducted lipidomic analysis to determine whether the lipid composition of membranes differs between vulnerable and resilient neurons to oxidative stress. This simple but unique method sets the groundwork for investigating the molecular underpinnings of selective neuronal vulnerability, which could inform new diagnostic strategies and therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases.
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BibTeX
@misc{sadek2026separation,
title = {{Separation, isolation, and membrane lipid profiling of selectively vulnerable and resilient neurons}},
author = {M. Sadek and M. Yokomizo and E. Williams and N. Wieckiewicz and D. Owusu Kwarteng and S. Das and R. E. Bennett and T. Gomez-Isla and M. Maesako},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.06.757005},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.06.757005v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Separation, isolation, and membrane lipid profiling of selectively vulnerable and resilient neurons
AU - M. Sadek
AU - M. Yokomizo
AU - E. Williams
AU - N. Wieckiewicz
AU - D. Owusu Kwarteng
AU - S. Das
AU - R. E. Bennett
AU - T. Gomez-Isla
AU - M. Maesako
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.06.757005
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.06.757005v1
AB - Certain neurons are more susceptible to pathogenic stressors and degenerate, while others remain resilient in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying this cell-to-cell heterogeneity in neuronal vulnerability remain unclear, primarily due to challenges in isolating vulnerable and resilient neurons to characterize their properties. In this study, we report the development of a novel cell-labeling method utilizing two cell-impermeable dyes to identify vulnerable and resilient neurons in culture, which are subsequently separated and isolated via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). As a proof-of-concept of a mechanistic study, we conducted lipidomic analysis to determine whether the lipid composition of membranes differs between vulnerable and resilient neurons to oxidative stress. This simple but unique method sets the groundwork for investigating the molecular underpinnings of selective neuronal vulnerability, which could inform new diagnostic strategies and therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases.
ER -