While working under a class two laminar flow hood, begin by sequentially washing the perivascular adipose tissues or PVATs collected from mice two times. First, using PBS containing 10%penicillin-streptomycin, and, next, using PBS supplemented with 1%penicillin-streptomycin. Transfer the rinsed tissues into a sterile 60-millimeter Petri dish and add 200 microliters of digestion solution to it.
Using sterile scissors, mince the tissues into pieces having a dimension of one cubic millimeter. With the help of sterile scissors, cut a plastic pipette tip to broaden its end. Then transfer the minced tissue mix to a 15-milliliter centrifuge tube using the broad-ended pipette tip.
Add six milliliters of the digestion solution to the tissues to initiate digestion. After tying the tube horizontally on a rack, incubate it at 37 degrees Celsius in an orbital shaker for 30 to 45 minutes. Every 5 to 10 minutes, remove the tube from the shaker in the incubator and manually shake it up and down vigorously.
Pass the digested tissue mix through a 70-micron cell strainer into a 50-milliliter centrifuge tube. Rinse the strainer with an equal volume of culture medium to maximize cell yield and quench digestion. Transfer the filtrate to a new 15-milliliter centrifuge tube.
Centrifuge the tube to isolate the stromal vascular fraction or SVF. Invert the tube to discard the supernatant and re-suspend the pellet in five milliliters of PBS. Centrifuge the tube again at 1, 800 G for five minutes before discarding the supernatant.
Re-suspend the pellet in an appropriate volume of culture medium. Seed the cells into a collagen-coated 12-well plate and incubate overnight at 37 degrees Celsius in a humid atmosphere with 5%carbon dioxide. On the next day, remove cell debris and red blood cells by aspirating the culture medium and washing the cells with antibiotic-supplemented PBS pre-warmed to 37 degrees Celsius.
Finally, add one milliliter of fresh culture medium to each well, and continue culturing the cells until they reach the desired stage of confluency.
