Jan 28, 2026
Quantification of glutamate release from human iPSC-derived Dopamine Neurons (DaNs)
- Humaira Noor1,2,3,4,
- Kaitlyn Cramb5,2,3,4,
- Richard Wade-Martins5,2,3,4
- 1Nufflied Department of Medicine, Henry Wellcome Building for Molecular Physiology, Old Road, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7B, UK;
- 2Kavli Institute for Neuroscience Discovery, University of Oxford, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, South Park Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK;
- 3Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK;
- 4Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815, USA;
- 5Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Sherrington Building, Sherrington Rd, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK
Protocol Citation: Humaira Noor, Kaitlyn Cramb, Richard Wade-Martins 2026. Quantification of glutamate release from human iPSC-derived Dopamine Neurons (DaNs). protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.36wgqdz53vk5/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: February 19, 2025
Last Modified: January 28, 2026
Protocol Integer ID: 121590
Keywords: Glutamate release, human neurons, tonic and evoked release, derived dopamine neuron, quantification of glutamate release, glutamate release, induced pluripotent stem cell, dopamine neuron, glutamate, human ipsc, ipsc
Funders Acknowledgements:
Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP)
Grant ID: ASAP-020370, ASAP-025192
Abstract
This protocol describes the procedure to quantify glutamate released from induced pluripotent stem cells derived dopamine neurons (iPSC-DANs) cultured in adherent monolayer following a modified Krik's protocol (Kriks, 2011) employing a progenitor expansions step as described in (Williamson and Madureira, 2023).
Materials
Reagents:
- Hanks' Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS++) (ThermoFisher, CAT# 14025092)
- Potassium chloride (KCl) (Sigma Aldrich, CAS# 7447-40-7)
- PierceTM BCA Protein Assay Kit (ThermoFisher, CAT# 23225)
Equipment:
- 96-well microreader plate
- PHERAstar® FSX microplate reader (BMG LabTech)
Troubleshooting
Before start
Conditioned media used in this assay can come from any human cell type capable of producing and releasing glutamate. However, the protocol has been optimized for iPSC-derived dopamine neurons and plated at 1 million cells per well in a 12 well plate.
Prior to use, media must be warmed preferentially to 37ºC as the cells are very temperature sensitive.
Plate cells in at least triplicate readouts for each cell line and/or condition.
Collection of Condition Media
Collection of conditioned media for tonic release:
Remove the cell culture media and add 200 µl of pre-warmed HBSS++ (2.4 mM KCl) media to the cells.
Incubate the cells for 10 min before collecting the media.
Collect the media carefully and slowly making sure not to disturb the cells while adding and removing media.
Collection of conditioned media for evoked release:
Prepare 40 mM KCl HBSS++ solution by adding 29.82 mg KCl to 10ml of HBSS++. Filter sterilise prior to use.
Add 200 µL of pre-warmed HBSS++ (40 mM KCl) media to the cells and incubate for 5 min. Collect the conditioned media.
Supernatants collected in both instances can be stored in -20°C following snap freezing until further use.
Measuring Glutamate in Conditioned Media
Preparation of standards:
Always prepare fresh set of standards on the day of use. The standards are unstable and needs to be used within 4 hours following preparation.
Prepare 1 mM of glutamate standard by diluting 5 µL of 0.1 M glutamate with 495 µL of the supplied Assay Buffer. Prepare a range of standards starting from 0 nmol to 10 nmol following the instruction booklet.
Prepare a range of lower concentrations of the standards in addition the concentrations mentioned in the manufacturer’s instructions (Step 3.2) as often the glutamate released by the human neurons are in the lower concentration range (depending on the cell type and the seeded density).
Assay Procedure:
Bring all the materials and prepared reagents to room temperature before use.
Set up the reaction by adding 50 µL of the standards and samples to wells of a 96-well microreader plate according to your plate map.
For calculating background for the samples, use 50 µL of fresh HBSS++.
Add 100 µL of reaction mix to each well and mix by pipetting up and down.
Incubate the plate at 37°C for 30 minutes protected from the light.
Read OD at 450 nm using a microplate reader for e.g. PHERAstar® microplate reader (BMG Labtech).
Analysis
Subtract blank values and average the data obtained in triplicates.
Plot a standard curve using the data obtained for the standards.
Calculate glutamate levels in nmol for each sample from the standard curve.
Normalise the glutamate release data for difference in plating density/cell number by dividing by the total protein values obtained by BCA.