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Method Article
Liver injuries are accompanied by progenitor cell expansion that represents a heterogeneous cell population. Novel classification of this cellular compartment allows for the distinguishing of multiple subsets. The method described here illustrates the flow cytometry analysis and high purity isolation of various subsets that can be used for further assays.
During chronic liver injuries, progenitor cells expand in a process called ductular reaction, which also entails the appearance of inflammatory cellular infiltrate and epithelial cell activation. The progenitor cell population during such inflammatory reactions has mostly been investigated using single surface markers, either by histological analysis or by flow cytometry-based techniques. However, novel surface markers identified various functionally distinct subsets within the liver progenitor/stem cell compartment. The method presented here describes the isolation and detailed flow cytometry analysis of progenitor subsets using novel surface marker combinations. Moreover, it demonstrates how the various progenitor cell subsets can be isolated with high purity using automated magnetic and FACS sorting-based methods. Importantly, novel and simplified enzymatic dissociation of the liver allows for the isolation of these rare cell populations with a high viability that is superior in comparison to other existing methods. This is especially relevant for further studying progenitor cells in vitro or for isolating high-quality RNA to analyze the gene expression profile.
Liver regeneration is mostly associated with the self-renewal capacity of hepatocytes. Nevertheless, chronic liver injuries occur with progenitor cell activation and expansion, which have been associated with their ability to differentiate into hepatocytes and cholangiocytes1,2,3,4. This is especially relevant because, during chronic injuries, hepatocyte proliferation is not effective. Despite multiple genetic tracing studies targeting progenitor cells, their role in liver regeneration remains controversial5,6,7,8. Moreover, the activation of progenitor cells has been linked to increased fibrotic response in the liver, which raises questions about their exact role during injuries9,10.
The heterogeneous nature of the progenitor cell compartment has long been suggested by gene expression studies that isolated progenitor cells expressing a single surface marker using microdissection or cell sorting-based methods1,11. Indeed, recently, a novel surface marker combination using gp38 (podoplanin) unequivocally linked previous single markers of progenitor cells to various subsets12. Importantly, these subsets not only differed in their surface marker expression but also exhibited functional alterations during injuries12.
Multiple animal models have been utilized to investigate progenitor cell activation and liver regeneration. It seems that the various injury types promote the activation of differing subsets of progenitor cells12. This might explain the phenotypic divergence of the ductular reaction observed in humans4. Thus, the complex phenotypic and functional analyses of progenitor cells are pivotal to understand their role in injuries and the true significance of the ductular reaction in liver diseases.
Besides surface marker combinations, the crucial differences in cell isolation protocols further complicate the conclusions based on previous studies2. A substantial amount of studies addressed the role of progenitor cells that greatly differ in their isolation protocol (e.g., liver dissociation (enzyme combination and duration of the process), density medium, and centrifugation speed)2. An optimized isolation technique, providing better viability for rare cell populations and reflective of subset composition, has been developed and published recently12. The aim of this article is to provide a more detailed protocol of this liver cell isolation procedure and the subset analysis to allow for the proper reproduction of the technique. Additionally, the protocol includes a comparison with the previous isolation method to demonstrate the differences compared to the new protocol.
All experimental procedures were conducted with the approval of the ethics and animal care committees of Homburg University Medical Center.
1. Preparation of Materials and Buffers
2. Preparation of Liver Single-cell Suspension
3. Determination of the Cell Count Using Flow Cytometry
NOTE: For determining the cell counts, an automated cell counter or, ideally, the flow cytometry-based cell quantification described below is suggested instead of the classical Neubauer chamber-based method. The liver single-cell suspension described in step 2 contains parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells (NPC) with greatly differing sizes and granularities. The proper exclusion of cellular debris together with the gating-on forward scatter, side scatter (FSC-SSC) characteristic of NPCs when using flow cytometry ensures the success of the described protocol12.
4. Staining of the Liver Single-cell Suspension for the Fow Cytometry Analysis of Progenitor Subsets
Antibody | Clone | Host/Isotype | Stock Concentration [mg/mL] | Dilution |
CD64 | X54-5/7.1 | Mouse IgG1, κ | 0.5 | 1:100 |
CD16/32 | 93 | Rat IgG2a, λ | 0.5 | 1:100 |
CD45 | 30-F11 | Rat IgG2b, κ | 0.2 | 1:200 |
CD31 | MEC13.3 | Rat IgG2a, κ | 0.5 | 1:200 |
ASGPR1 | Polyclonal Goat IgG | 0.2 | 1:100 | |
Podoplanin | 1/8/2001 | Syrian Hamster IgG | 0.2 | 1:1,400 |
Podoplanin | 1/8/2001 | Syrian Hamster IgG | 0.5 | 1:1,400 |
CD133 | Mb9-3G8 | Rat IgG1 | 0.03 | 3 µL |
CD133 | 315-2C11 | Rat IgG2a, λ | 0.5 | 1:100 |
CD34 | RAM34 | Rat IgG2a, κ | 0.5 | 1:100 |
CD90.2 | 53-2,1 | Rat IgG2, κ | 0.5 | 1:800 |
CD157 | BP-3 | Mouse IgG2b, κ | 0.2 | 1:600 |
EpCAM | G8.8 | Rat IgG2a, κ | 0.2 | 1:100 |
Sca-1 | D7 | Rat IgG2a, κ | 0.03 | 10 µL |
Mouse IgG2b, κ | MPC-11 | 0.2 | ||
Rat IgG1 | RTK2071 | 0.2 | ||
Rat IgG2b, κ | RTK4530 | 0.2 | ||
Rat IgG2a, κ | RTK2758 | 0.5 | ||
Rat IgG2a, κ | RTK2758 | 0.2 | ||
Syrian Hamster IgG | SHG-1 | 0.2 | ||
Syrian Hamster IgG | SHG-1 | 0.5 | ||
Normal Goat IgG Control | Polyclonal Goat IgG | 1 | ||
Donkey anti-Goat IgG | Donkey IgG | 2 | 1:800 | |
Streptavidin | 1 | 1:400 |
Table 1.
Antibody | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
CD45 APC/Cy7 | Rat IgG2b, κ 0.5 µL | + | + | + | + |
CD31 Biotin | + | Rat IgG2a, κ 0.5 µL | + | + | + |
ASGPR1 purified | + | + | Normal Goat IgG Control 0.2 µL | + | + |
Podoplanin APC | + | + | + | Syrian Hamster IgG 1 µL of a 1:14 Dilution | + |
CD133 PE | + | + | + | + | Rat IgG1 0.45 µL |
Donkey anti-Goat Alexa Fluor 488 | + | + | + | + | + |
Streptavidin Alexa Fluor 405 | + | + | + | + | + |
Table 2.
5. Magnetic Microbead-based Enrichment of Progenitor Cells
6. Magnetic Microbead-based Automated Cell Purification of Progenitor Cell Subsets Combined from Multiple Livers
NOTE: Since progenitor cell subsets represent rare cell populations, combining cells from multiple livers is often needed to achieve sufficient cell numbers for further experiments. As an example, CD133+ and gp38+ cell separation is described below.
7. Flow Cytometry Cell Sorting
NOTE: A high purity sort of any progenitor cell subset could be achieved with the protocol described below. The overall yield of cells is much lower than that described in step 6 and is best for gene expression analysis.
Parameter | Setting |
Nozzle Size | 85 µm |
Frequency | 46.00 - 46.20 |
Amplitude | 38.30 - 55.20 |
Phase | 0 |
Drop Delay | 28.68 - 28.84 |
Attenuation | Off |
First Drop | 284 - 297 |
Target Gap | 9.-14 |
Pressure | 45 psi |
Table 3.
The procedure presented here for the digestion of the liver using a novel mixture of enzymes results in a single-cell suspension containing parenchymal and non-parenchymal liver cells (Figures 1 and 2a). After the ACK-lysing of red blood cells, the direct flow cytometry analysis of the single-cell suspension is possible (Figures 1 and 2). The gating strategy involves the exclusion of doublets and dead cells (Figur...
Liver inflammation and injury of different origins trigger regenerative processes in the liver that are accompanied by progenitor cell expansion and activation2,3. These liver progenitor cells possess stem cell characteristics and likely play a significant role in the pathomechanism of various liver diseases.
The heterogeneity of liver progenitor cells has long been suggested. The re-evaluation of liver progenitor subsets using a novel...
The authors have no competing financial interests.
This work was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Sofja Kovalevskaja Award to VLK.
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
RPMI | Life Technologies | 21875-034 | |
phenol red free DMEM | Life Technologies | 31053-028 | |
FBS | Life Technologies | 10270-106 | |
Collagenase P | Sigma-Aldrich | 11249002001 | |
DNAse-I | Sigma-Aldrich | 10104159001 | |
Dispase | Life Technologies | 17105041 | |
ACK Lysing Buffer | Life Technologies | A10492-01 | |
HBSS | Life Technologies | 14025-050 | |
PBS | Sigma-Aldrich | D8537 | |
Sodium Azide | Sigma-Aldrich | S2002 | Prepare 1% stock solution |
10% BSA | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-091-376 | |
autoMACS Rinsing Solution | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-091-222 | add 0.5% (v/v) BSA and store on ice |
Phenol-red free DMEM | Sigma-Aldrich | D1145 | |
counting Beads Count Bright | Life Technologies | C36950 | |
PI | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-093-233 | |
FcR Blocking Reagent | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-092-575 | |
anti-CD31 MicroBeads | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-097-418 | |
anti-CD45 MicroBeads | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-052-301 | |
Dead Cell Removal Kit | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-090-101 | |
anti-Biotin MicroBeads | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-090-485 | |
CD64 Purified | BioLegend | 139302 | Dilution: 1:100 |
CD16/32 Purified | BioLegend | 101302 | Dilution: 1:100 |
CD45 APC/Cy7 | BioLegend | 103116 | Dilution: 1:200, marks hematopoetic cells |
CD31 Biotin | BioLegend | 102504 | Dilution: 1:200, marks endothelial cells |
ASGPR1 Purified | Bio-Techne | AF2755-SP | Dilution: 1:100, marks hepatocytes |
Podoplanin APC | BioLegend | 127410 | Dilution: 1:1,400, marks progenior cells |
Podoplanin Biotin | BioLegend | 127404 | Dilution: 1:1,400 |
CD133 PE | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-102-210 | use 3 µL, marks progenitor cells |
CD133 Biotin | BioLegend | 141206 | Dilution: 1:100 |
CD34 Biotin | eBioScience | 13-0341-81 | Dilution: 1:100 |
CD90.2 Pacific Blue | BioLegend | 140306 | Dilution: 1:800 |
CD157 PE | BioLegend | 140203 | Dilution: 1:600 |
EpCAM Brilliant Violet 421 | BioLegend | 118225 | Dilution: 1:100 |
Sca-1 Biotin | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-101-885 | use 10 µL |
Mouse IgG2b, κ PE | BioLegend | 400311 | |
Rat IgG1 PE | BioLegend | 400407 | |
Rat IgG2b, κ APC/Cy7 | BioLegend | 400624 | |
Rat IgG2a, κ Biotin | BioLegend | 400504 | |
Rat IgG2a, κ Brilliant Violet 421 | BioLegend | 400535 | |
Syrian Hamster IgG APC | BioLegend | 402012 | |
Syrian Hamster IgG Biotin | BioLegend | 402004 | |
Normal Goat IgG Control Purified | Bio-Techne | AB-108-C | |
Donkey anti-Goat IgG Alexa Fluor 488 | Life Technologies | A11055 | Dilution: 1:800 |
Streptavidin Alexa Fluor 405 | Life Technologies | S32351 | Dilution: 1:400 |
100 µm Filter mesh | A. Hartenstein | PAS3 | |
LS Column | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-042-401 | |
QuadroMACS separator | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-090-976 | |
MACSQuant Analyzer 10 | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-096-343 | |
AutoMACS Pro Separator | Miltenyi Biotec | 130-092-545 | |
FACS AriaTMIII | BD Biosciences | ||
FACSDiva sofware | BD Biosciences | ||
Polypropylene Round bottom tube | Falcon | 352063 | |
Rneasy plus mini kit | Qiagen | 74134 | RLT lysis buffer is included |
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