Isolation and Identification of Extravascular Immune Cells of the Heart

Summary

This protocol presents a simple and efficient method to isolate, identify and quantify immune cells residing in the myocardium of mice during steady state or inflammation. The protocol combines enzymatic and mechanical digestion for the generation of a single cell suspension that can be further analyzed by flow cytometry.

Abstract

The immune system is an essential component of a healthy heart. The myocardium is home to a rich population of different immune cell subsets with functional compartmentalization both during steady state and during different forms of inflammation. Until recently, the study of immune cells in the heart required the use of microscopy or poorly developed digestion protocols, which provided enough sensitivity during severe inflammation but were unable to confidently identify small — but key — populations of cells during steady state. Here, we discuss a simple method combining enzymatic (collagenase, hyaluronidase and DNAse) and mechanical digestion of murine hearts preceded by intravascular administration of fluorescently-labelled antibodies to differentiate small but unavoidable intravascular cell contaminants. This method generates a suspension of isolated viable cells that can be analyzed by flow cytometry for identification, phenotyping and quantification, or further purified with fluorescence-activated cell sorting or magnetic bead separation for transcriptional analysis or in vitro studies. We include an example of a step-by-step flow cytometric analysis to differentiate the key macrophage and dendritic cell populations of the heart. For a medium sized experiment (10 hearts) the completion of the procedure requires 2–3 h.

Introduction

Different forms of myocardial stress or injury, including ischemic (ischemia reperfusion or myocardial infarction) and non-ischemic (hypertension or myocarditis), promote the recruitment of inflammatory cells with reparative and protective, but also pathogenic properties. As early as 1891, Romberg first described the presence of cellular infiltrates in the myocardium of patients infected with typhus and scarlet fever¹. However, the detailed study of cardiac immune cells required the development of more advanced immunophenotyping techniques. As a consequence, only recently have we started to understand that a diverse population of immune cells w....

Protocol

Ethics statement: This protocol has been reviewed and approved by the Animal Care Committee at the University Health Network (Toronto, Canada) and is in compliance with the Canadian Council on Animal Care.

1. Buffer Preparation

1. Prepare HBB buffer (Hank's Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS), 2% heat inactivated bovine serum, 0.2% bovine serum albumin). Add 10 mL of heat inactivated bovine serum and 1 g of bovine serum albumin to 500 mL of HBSS. Filter sterilize through a 0.2 µm filter and store at 4 °C.
2. Prepare FACS buffer (Phosphate buffered saline (PBS), 2% heat inactivated bovine serum, 1 mM Ethylenediaminete....

Results

To date, no good method has been designed to isolate immune cells from other cardiac cell components, such as cardiomyocytes. Hence, analysis of the cardiac single cell suspension by flow cytometry requires a pre-gating with CD45 to identify the immune cell populations, followed by single cell and small size exclusion gating (Figure 1A). Alternatively, a viability staining can be performed to exclude dead cells. Small size exclusion and viabi.......

Discussion

Myocardial inflammation, or myocarditis, is a feature of most cardiovascular diseases. However, the myocardium is not devoid of its own immune components in non-disease states. During steady state, many immune cells reside in the myocardium and play the essential roles of maintenance and protection. The characterization of these diverse populations of cells would not have been possible without methods such as the one presented in this protocol.

A combination of mechanical and enzymatic digesti.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Phosphate buffered saline	Wisent	311-010-CL	1x PBS
21 G x 1 1/2 (0.8 mm x 40 mm) PrecisionGlide Needle	BD	305167
Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution	Wisent	311-511-CL	1x HBSS
Bovine serum albumin	Sigma-Aldrich	A4503-50G
Bovine serum	Sigma	B9433
0.5 M Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid	BioShop	EDT111
Vacuum filter , 0.2 µm Filtropur V50	Sarstedt	83.1823.001
28 G 1/2 1 cc insulin syringe	BD	329424
60 mL syringe	BD	309653
Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium	Wisent	319-005-CL	1x DMEM with 4.5 g/L glucose and L-Glutamine and Sodium Pyruvate
Collagenase I	Sigma	C0130	from Clostridium histolyticum
Hyaluronidase type I-S	Sigma	H3506
DNase-I	Sigma	D4513	from bovine pancreas
Cell strainer, 40 µm Nylon	Falcon	352340
Ammonium-Chloride- Potassium (ACK) lysis buffer	Lonza	10-546E
Alexa Fluor 700 anti-mouse/human CD11b	Biolegend	101222	1:250 dilution
APC/Cy7 anti-mouse Ly-6c	Biolegend	128025	1:250 dilution
APC anti-mouse CD103	Biolegend	121414	1:250 dilution
Brilliant Violet 605 anti-mouse CD11c	Biolegend	117334	1:250 dilution
PE anti-mouse Ly-6G	Biolegend	127607	1:250 dilution
Pacific Blue anti-mouse I-Ab	Biolegend	116422	1:250 dilution
FITC anti-mouse CD64 (FcgRI)	Biolegend	139315	1:250 dilution
PE/Cy7 anti-mouse CD45	Biolegend	103113	1:250 dilution
PerCP/Cy5.5 anti-mouse CD45	Biolegend	103132	1:40 dilution
TruStain fcX (anti-mouse CD16/32)	Biolegend	101320	1:100 dilution
True-Stain Monocyte Blocker	Biolegend	426101	1:20 dilution
FlowJo V10	TreeStar Inc		https://www.flowjo.com/solutions/flowjo
Mouse: Batf3-/-	The Jackson Laboratory	JAX: 013755