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Isolation and Flow Cytometric Characterization of Newborn Mouse Brain‐Derived Microglia Maintained In Vitro
Author(s) -
Hassan Nassef F.,
Rifat Salahaldin,
Campbell Donald E.,
McCawley Lisa J.,
Douglas Steven D.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of leukocyte biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.819
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1938-3673
pISSN - 0741-5400
DOI - 10.1002/jlb.50.1.86
Subject(s) - microglia , biology , flow cytometry , in vitro , antigen , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , macrophage , cell culture , ratón , inflammation , biochemistry , genetics
Microglia have been identified in the white matter of developing and adult mouse brain using different murine macrophage markers. While several techniques for the isolation of murine microglia have been described, the small cell yields and partial purification have limited the progress of these studies. We now describe the isolation of murine microglia using a modification of McCarthy and de Vellis method. Brain tissues from 1–2 day old newborn mice were mechanically and chemically dissociated and maintained in in vitro culture for 3 weeks. In primary dissociated brain cultures, microglia are observed after 10 days migrating from small colonies. After 16–20 days, brain‐derived microglia were isolated with high cell yields by continuous shaking of the cultures for 16 hr. In contrast to resident murine peritoneal macrophages, microglia express less Class II (la) antigen and a small percentage express L3T4 (CD4) antigen by flow cytometry.