Separation of Rat Epidermis and Dermis with Thermolysin to Detect Site-Specific Inflammatory mRNA and Protein

Summary

Presented here is a protocol for the separation of epidermis from dermis to evaluate inflammatory mediator production. Following inflammation, rat hind paw epidermis is separated from the dermis by thermolysin at 4 °C. The epidermis is then used for mRNA analysis by RT-PCR and protein evaluation by western blot and immunohistochemistry.

Abstract

Easy-to-use and inexpensive techniques are needed to determine the site-specific production of inflammatory mediators and neurotrophins during skin injury, inflammation, and/or sensitization. The goal of this study is to describe an epidermal-dermal separation protocol using thermolysin, a proteinase that is active at 4 °C. To illustrate this procedure, Sprague Dawley rats are anesthetized, and right hind paws are injected with carrageenan. Six and twelve hours after injection, rats with inflammation and naïve rats are euthanized, and a piece of hind paw, glabrous skin is placed in cold Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium. The epidermis is then separated at the basement membrane from the dermis by thermolysin in PBS with calcium chloride. Next, the dermis is secured by microdissection forceps, and the epidermis is gently teased away. Toluidine blue staining of tissue sections show that the epidermis is separated cleanly from the dermis at the basement membrane. All keratinocyte cell layers remain intact, and the epidermal rete ridges along with indentations from dermal papillae are clearly observed. Qualitative and real-time RT-PCR is used to determine nerve growth factor and interleukin-6 expression levels. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry are finally performed to detect amounts of nerve growth factor. This report illustrates that cold thermolysin digestion is an effective method to separate epidermis from dermis for evaluation of mRNA and protein alterations during inflammation.

Introduction

Evaluation of inflammatory mediators and neurotrophic factors from the skin can be limited due to the heterogeneity of cell types found in the inflamed dermis and epidermis^1,2,3. Several enzymes, chemical, thermal, or mechanical techniques involving separation of the two layers or for performing cell dissociation for evaluation have been reviewed recently⁴. Acid, alkali, neutral salt, and heat can divide the epidermis from dermis quickly, but cellular and extracellular swelling often occurs^5,6.....

Protocol

This protocol follows the animal care guidelines of Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences IACUC (#2016-03).

1. Carrageenan-induced inflammation (C-II)

1. Anesthetize male and/or female Sprague Dawley rats (200–250 g; 8–9 weeks old) with isoflurane (or injectable anesthetic).
2. Check the depth of anesthesia by touching the cornea and lightly pinching the left hind paw. When the animal is appropriately anesthetized, no corneal or paw response will be observed.
3. Subcutaneously inject the right glabrous, hind paw with 100 µL of 1% (w/v) λ-carrageenan diluted in phosphate-buffered sa....

Results

Carrageenan injection into the rat hind paw caused classic symptoms of inflammation such as redness and edema^16,17. The swelling of the hind paw was measured with mechanical calipers²⁰. A baseline value of the thickness of the paw was obtained for each rat before carrageenan treatment and measured again at 6 h and 12 h. Paw thickness was increased significantly compared to the baseline values (Figure 1).

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Discussion

The study determined that the epidermis of rat hind paw glabrous skin was easily separated from dermis using thermolysin (0.5 mG/mL) in PBS with 1 mM calcium chloride at 4 °C for 2.5 h. Histological evaluation indicated that the epidermis was separated from the dermis at the basement membrane and that the epidermal rete ridges were intact. Thermolysin is an extracellular metalloendopeptidase produced by Gram-positive (Geo)Bacillus thermoproteolyticus²⁴. Its activity is stable.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
λ-carrageenan	Millipore Sigma	22049	Subcutaneous injection of carrageenan induces inflammation
7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System	Thermo Fisher Scientific	4351107	For RT-PCR analysis
Calcium chloride (CaCl2), anhydrous	Millipore Sigma	499609	Prevents autolysis of thermolysin
Crystal Mount Aqueous Mounting Medium	Millipore Sigma	C0612	Aqueous mounting medium after toluidine blue staining
Donkey anti-Mouse Alexa Fluor 555	Thermo Fisher Scientific	A-31570	Secondary antibody for immunohistochemistry
Donkey anti-Rabbit IgG, Alexa Fluor 488	Thermo Fisher Scientific	A-21206	Secondary antibody for immunohistochemistry
Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium	Thermo Fisher Scientific	11966-025	To maintain tissue integrity
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid	Millipore Sigma	E6758	Stops thermolysin reaction
Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus (M-MLV) Reverse transcriptase	Promega	M1701	For complementary DNA synthesis
Mouse anti-NGF Antibody (E-12)	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	sc-365944	For neurotrophin immunohistochemistry
ProLong Gold Antifade Mountant	Thermo Fisher Scientific	P36930	To retard immunofluorescence quenching
Rabbit anti-PGP 9.5	Cedarlane Labs	CL7756AP	For intraepidermal nerve staining
SAS Sprague Dawley Rat	Charles River	Strain Code 400	Animal used for inflammation studies
Shandon M-1 Embedding Matrix	Thermo Fisher Scientific	1310TS	Tissue embedding matrix for tinctorial- and immuno-histochemistry
SimpliAmp Thermal Cycler	Thermo Fisher Scientific	A24811	For RT-PCR analysis
SYBR Select Master Mix	Thermo Fisher Scientific	4472908	For RT-PCR analysis
Thermolysin	Millipore Sigma	T7902	From Geobacillus stearothermophilus
Toluidine Blue	Millipore Sigma	89640	For tinctorial staining for brightfield microscopy
TRIzol Reagent	Thermo Fisher Scientific	15596026	For total RNA extraction for RTPCR