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Abstract

Neuroscience

Primary Microglia Isolation from Postnatal Mouse Brains

Published: February 25th, 2021

DOI:

10.3791/62237

1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 2Division of Biology and Biomedical Science, Washington University in St. Louis, 3Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Institute for Translational Brain Research, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, 5Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University

* These authors contributed equally

Abstract

Microglia are the mononuclear phagocytes in the central nervous system (CNS), which play key roles in maintaining homeostasis and regulating the inflammatory process in the CNS. To study the microglial biology in vitro, primary microglia show great advantages compared to immortalized microglial cell lines. However, microglia isolation from the postnatal mouse brain is relatively less efficient and time-consuming. In this protocol, we provide a quick and easy-to-follow method to isolate primary microglia from the neonatal mouse brain. The overall steps of this protocol include brain dissection, primary brain cell culture, and microglia isolation. Using this approach, researchers can obtain primary microglia with high purity. In addition, the harvested primary microglia were able to respond to the lipopolysaccharides challenge, indicating they retained their immune function. Collectively, we developed a simplified approach to efficiently isolate primary microglia with high purity, which facilitates a wide range of microglial biology investigations in vitro.

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