Isolation and culture of pure adult mouse microglia and astrocytes for in vitro characterization and analyses
Mark Thomas Milner, Grace Lawrence, Caroline L. Holley, Liviu‐Gabriel Bodea, Jürgen Götz, Sabrina Sofia Burgener, Kate Schroder
Abstract
Microglia and astrocytes are implicated in aging and age-related diseases. Here, we present a protocol to isolate and culture these glia cells from the murine brain. The protocol consists of two parts: magnetic sorting of adult microglia and mechanical/magnetic sorting of adult microglia and astrocytes. We then describe the characterization of these glial cells by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Microglia isolated from aged mice maintain age-related phenotype during culture. These purified glia cells can be applied in ex vivo studies.
Topics & Concepts
MicrogliaCell sortingFlow cytometryAstrocyteIn vitroCell biologyBiologyPhenotypeIn vivoEx vivoNeurogliaCell cultureImmunologyNeurosciencePathologyCentral nervous systemInflammationMedicineGeneGeneticsNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsImmune cells in cancerNeurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms