Neuron-Macrophage Co-cultures to Activate Macrophages Secreting Molecular Factors with Neurite Outgrowth Activity

Summary

The current protocol presents experimental procedures to stimulate cultured macrophages to be endowed with capacity to release molecular factors that promote neurite outgrowth. Treatment of cAMP to the neuron-macrophage co-cultures induces the macrophages to produce conditioned medium that possesses strong neurite outgrowth activity.

Abstract

There is strong evidence that macrophages can participate in the regeneration or repair of injured nervous system. Here, we describe a protocol in which macrophages are induced to produce conditioned medium (CM) that promotes neurite outgrowth. Adult dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons are acutely dissociated and plated. After the neurons are stably attached, peritoneal macrophages are co-cultured on a cell culture insert overlaid on the same well. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP (db-cAMP) is applied to the co-cultures for 24 h, after which the cell culture insert containing the macrophages is moved to another well to collect CM for 72 h. The CM from the co-cultures treated with db-cAMP, when applied to a separate adult DRG neuron culture, exhibits robust neurite outgrowth activity. The CM obtained from the db-cAMP-treated cultures consisting of single cell type alone, either DRG neuron or peritoneal macrophage, did not exhibit neurite outgrowth activity. This indicates that the interaction between neurons and macrophages is indispensable for the activation of macrophages secreting molecular factors with neurite outgrowth activity into CM. Thus, our co-culture paradigm will also be useful to study intercellular signaling in the neuron-macrophage interaction to stimulate the macrophages to be endowed with a pro-regenerative phenotype.

Introduction

A variety of studies have sought to enhance CNS axon regeneration after the injuries of the spinal cord or brain. Inflammatory reactions, inevitably accompanying the injuries in the nervous system, are traditionally thought to participate in secondary pathological processes leading to the deleterious outcomes^1,2. Indeed, methylprednisolone that can suppress inflammatory reactions is the only approved therapy for acute spinal cord injury³. However, more recent studies have provided evidence that macrophages, a representative inflammatory cell type, can participate in the regeneration or ....

Protocol

All experiments involving animals were approved by the institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Ajou University School of Medicine.

1. Culture Preparation of Dissociated Adult DRG Neuron

1. Before setting up the culture, pre-coat a 6-well plate with poly-D-lysine and laminin. Incubate a 6-well plate with 0.01% poly-D-lysine at 37°C for 2 h or at 4°C overnight. Then, wash the plate twice with distilled water.
2. Incubate the plate with laminin solution at a concentration of 3 µg/mL for 2 h at room temperature, and then wash the plate twice with distilled water. Dry the plate at room temperature at least f....

Results

We describe a protocol that can generate macrophages capable of secreting molecular factors with neurite outgrowth activity. The macrophage CM obtained from the co-cultures treated with db-cAMP resulted in robust neurite outgrowth when applied to a separate DRG neuron culture (Figure 2A). In comparison, CM obtained from the PBS-treated co-cultures did not induce neurite outgrowth in our 15-h culture duration (Figure 2B). When db-.......

Discussion

There are several critical steps for the generation of this co-culture system. It is important to ensure that the mouse DRG neurons and peritoneal macrophages are prepared fresh and healthy. We have experienced diminished neurite outgrowth activity of the CM when the dissection of all the DRGs took more than 30 min. In addition, the contamination of blood components in peritoneal macrophages also led to a decrease of neurite outgrowth activity in the CM. In order to elicit robust neuron-macrophage interaction by db-cAMP,.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Cell culture insert transparent PET membrane 0.4μm pore size	Corning,Falcon	353090	Transparent PET membrane with 0.4-μm pore size, for 6-well plate
70-μm nylon cell strainer	Corning, Falcon	352350
8-well culture slide	Biocoat	354632	with a uniform application of Poly-D-Lysine
Red blood cell lysis buffer	Qiagen	158904
Collagenase from Clostridium histolyticum	Sigma-Aldrich	C9407-100MG
Neurobasal medium	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Gibco	21103-049	Containing 1% glutamax and 1% penicilin-streptomycin
B-27 supplement, serum free	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Gibco	17504-044	extracellular solution
Glutamax	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Gibco	35050-061
Penicillin-streptomycin	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Gibco	15140-122
Poly-D-lysine Hydrobromide	Sigma-Aldrich	P6407-5MG
Laminin	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Invitrogen	23017-015
Adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate, N6,O2'-dibutyryl-, sodium salt	Merck Millipore Corporation, Calbiochem	28745
10% Normal Goat Serum	Thermo Fisher Scientific	16210072
Triton-X-100	Daejung Chemical and Metal Co	8566-4405
Anti β III tubulin (Tuj-1)	Promega Corporation	G7121	Mouse monoclonal antibody
Goat anti-Mouse IgG (H+L) secondary antibody	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Invitrogen	A11005
Hemacytometer	Marienfeld-Superior	N/A
Cell culture CO2 incubator	Panasonic	N/A
Dissecting stereomicroscope	Carl Zeiss	Stemi DV4
Twist shaker	FINEPCR	Tw3t
Tabletop centrifuge	Sorvall	N/A
Confocal microscope	Olympus America Inc	IX71
FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum)	VWR International, Hyclone	SH30919.03
Friedman Pearson Rongeurs	FST (Fine Science Tools)	16021-14	Stainless steel, 14cm, curved, single joint action
Fine Scissors - Tungsten Carbide & ToughCut	FST (Fine Science Tools)	14558-11	sharp, serrated
Dumont #7 Forceps	FST (Fine Science Tools)	11272-30	Dumoxel, 0.07 x 0.04mm, curved
Vannas Spring Scissors	FST (Fine Science Tools)	15000-00	straight, 3mm cutting-edge, sharp
Qualitron DW-41 Micro-Centrifuge	Artisan Technology Group	DW-41	Input Voltage: 115VAC