High-Dimensionality Flow Cytometry for Immune Function Analysis of Dissected Implant Tissues

Summary

Isolation of cells from dissected implants and their characterization by flow cytometry can significantly contribute to understanding the pattern of immune response against implants. This paper describes a precise method for the isolation of cells from dissected implants and their staining for flow cytometric analysis.

Abstract

The success of implanting laboratory-grown tissue or a medical device in an individual is subject to the immune response of the recipient host. Considering an implant as a foreign body, a hostile and dysregulated immune response may result in the rejection of the implant, while a regulated response and regaining of homeostasis can lead to its acceptance. Analyzing the microenvironments of implants dissected out under in vivo or ex vivo settings can help in understanding the pattern of immune response, which can ultimately help in developing new generations of biomaterials. Flow cytometry is a well-known technique for characterizing immune cells and their subsets based on their cell surface markers. This review describes a protocol based on manual dicing, enzymatic digestion, and filtration through a cell strainer for the isolation of uniform cell suspensions from dissected implant tissue. Further, a multicolor flow cytometry staining protocol has been explained, along with steps for initial cytometer settings to characterize and quantify these isolated cells by flow cytometry.

Introduction

Advances in the field of medicine have led to the frequent use of implanted materials for supporting the function or re-growth of damaged tissue^1,2. These include devices such as pacemakers, reconstructive cosmetic implants, and orthopedic plates used for bone fracture fixation^3,4. However, the materials used to make these implants and the locations in which they are implanted play important roles in determining the success of these implants^5,6,7. As foreign b....

Protocol

NOTE: Figure 1 gives an overview of the flow cytometry protocol.

1) Reagent preparation

1. Prepare media for diluting enzymes and for tissue culture.
   1. Add 5 mL of 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) buffer solution into 500 mL of RPMI medium and shake well. Store the medium at 4 °C until further use.
2. Calculate the volume of the enzyme solution.
   ​NOTE: The volume of the enzyme solution is the volume of the medium containing the enzymes (collagenase and DNase I) that will be needed to digest diced tissue in 6-well plates; it depe....

Results

The process of development of flow cytometry panels for immune analysis often relies on the comparison of results to existing data and the literature in the field. Knowledge of how populations may present in flow cytometry is critical for proper interpretation of data. Regardless, populations and cell types can appear differently in different tissues, so some variability is to be expected. In the context of well-defined control tissues, such staining optimization can be evaluated against .......

Discussion

This review describes a detailed methodology for isolating cells from biomaterial implants to obtain a uniform cell suspension. In addition, a detailed protocol has been provided for staining the cell suspension for multicolor flow cytometry, along with the steps for configuring a flow cytometer for optimal results. Cell isolation methods can involve multiple steps, often utilizing manual tissue dissection followed by enzymatic digestion with proteolytic enzymes to dissociate the extracellular matrix in the tissue and di.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
50 mL conical tubes	Fisher Scientific	14-432-22
6 Well Plate	Fisher Scientific	07-000-646
BD Brilliant Stain Buffer Plus	BD Biosciences	566385
BD Cytofix	BD Biosciences	554655	For only fixing cells
Bovine serum albumin	Millipore Sigma	A7906	For preparing FACS staining buffer
CD11b AF700	Biolegend	101222	Clone: M1/70
CD11c PerCP/Cy5.5	Biolegend	117325	Clone: N418
CD197 PE/Dazzle594	Biolegend	120121	Clone: 4B12
CD200R3 APC	Biolegend	142207	Clone: Ba13
CD206 PE	Biolegend	141705	Clone: C068C2
CD45 BUV737	BD Biosciences	612778	Clone: 104/A20
CD86 BUV395	BD Biosciences	564199	Clone: GL1
CD8a BV421	Biolegend	100737	Clone: 53-6.7
Comp Bead anti-mouse	BD Biosciences	552843	For compensation control
DNase I	Millipore Sigma	11284932001	Bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I)
F4/80 PE/Cy7	Biolegend	123113	Clone: BM8
Fc Block	Biolegend	101301	Clone: 93
Fixation/Permeabilization Solution Kit	BD Biosciences	554714	For fixing and permeabilization of cells.
HEPES buffer	Thermo Fisher	15630080	Buffer to supplement cell media
Liberase	Millipore Sigma	5401127001	Blend of purified Collagenase I and Collagenase II
LIVE/DEAD Fixable Blue Dead Cell Stain Kit	Thermo Fisher	L23105	Viability dye
Ly6c AF488	Biolegend	128015	Clone: HK1.4
Ly6g BV510	Biolegend	127633	Clone: 1A8
MHCII BV786	BD Biosciences	742894	Clone: M5/114.15.2
Phosphate buffer saline	Thermo Fisher	D8537
RPMI	Thermo Fisher	11875176	Cell culture media
Siglec F BV605	BD Biosciences	740388	Clone: E50-2440
V-bottom 96-well plate