Harvesting Bone Marrow From Femurs and Tibiae
<ol>
<li>The first step of the procedure is to harvest bone marrow from the femurs and tibiae of a 6- to 12-week old mouse (we are using BALB/c mice but you can do this procedure with any mouse strain). To begin, euthanize the mouse by CO2 inhalation (won&rsquo;t be shown). Harvest femur and tibiae from the hind legs of each. Then, with a razor blade, cut each end of the femurs to remove the hip and knee joints and to expose the marrow.</li>
<li>In a similar manner, cut each end of the tibiae to remove the knee and ankle adjacent regions and to expose the marrow.</li>
<li>Take a 3 mL syringe with a 26-gauge needle and fill it with RPMI supplemented with 10% FBS, penicillin, streptomycin, and beta-mercaptoethanol (BME = 100 uM). Using tweezers, hold the bone over a Petri dish containing RPMI media. Insert the syringe needle into one end of the bone and depress the plunger to flush out the bone marrow. The syringe needle can be moved up and down inside the bone to flush out residual marrow.</li>
<li>Repeat the procedure for all the bones, and then proceed with establishing the cultures.</li>
</ol>
Establishing Cultures
<ol>
<li> To establish the bone marrow cultures, pipette the flushed bone marrow up and down several times to break up the tissue into a cell suspension.</li>
<li>Place a 70 micron filter on top of a 50 mL conical tube, and add the cell suspension to the filter.</li>
<li>Rinse the Petri dish one time with RPMI, then add the rinse to the 70 micron filter.</li>
<li>Using the rubber end of a 1 mL syringe plunger, grind the bone marrow pieces remaining on top of the 70 micron filter.</li>
<li>Wash the filter one time with RPMI.</li>
<li>After washing the filter, centrifuge the cell suspension at 1200 rpm for 5 minutes.</li>
<li>Wash the cell pellet by resuspending in PBS.</li>
<li>Count the cells using a hemocytometer. We typically obtain ~90 million cells from one mouse&rsquo;s bones (two femurs plus two tibiae). After counting the cells, centrifuge them again at 1200 rpm for 5 minutes.</li>
<li>Resuspend the cells in a small amount of RPMI and aliquot them into tissue culture flasks containing enough RPMI so that the final concentration is 1 million cells per mL.</li>
<li>Add cytokines to promote the development of your cell type of interest. In this case, the cytokine interleukin-3 (IL-3 = 10 ng/mL) is added to promote the development of basophils and mast cells. To acquire basophils, incubate for 10 days. For mast cells, incubate for 5 weeks. When generating mast cells, the media and IL-3 should be changed once a week.</li>
<li>Here is a look at how mast cells should appear just after plating. This image demonstrates the differentiation of mast marrow cells into basophils and mast cells 10 days after the addition of interleukin-3.</li>
<li>Once the desired cell type is obtained, proceed with the electroporation step.</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Electroporating Cells
<ol>
<li>To begin the electroporation step, determine the number of cells in the culture flask.</li>
<li>Cells are typically electroporated at a density of 10 million per mL, so transfer the required cell number to conical tubes and centrifuge the tubes at 1200 rpm for 5 minutes.</li>
<li>After centrifuging, aspirate the media, wash the cells with 1X PBS, and centrifuge again at 1200 rpm for 5 minutes.</li>
<li>Aspirate the PBS and add Bio-Rad Gene Pulser electroporation buffer to make a cell suspension of 10 million cells per mL.</li>
<li>After resuspending the cells, add the desired plasmid DNA at a final concentration of 10 to 20 micrograms per mL.</li>
<li>Aliquot 150 microliters of the cell suspension into wells of your choice on a 96-well electroporation plate.</li>
<li>Put the electroporation plate in the MXcell plate chamber and close the lid.</li>
<li>Prior to transfection of mast cells, an electroporation protocol must be programmed into the MXcell unless using a preset or stored protocol. Through optimization experiments we have discovered that the highest transfection efficiencies of mast cells occur using square wave pulse protocols. We will vary the electroporation conditions on the plate to deliver 300V/20ms, 350/15ms, 350V/20ms, and 350V/10ms square wave pulses at 2000uF and 1000 ohms. Once the protocol has been set and loaded onto the device, press &ldquo;Pulse&rdquo; to electroporate the cells.</li>
<li>After electroporation is complete, transfer the cells to a tissue culture plate. We typically transfer each 150 microliter electroporation sample to a well in a 48-well tissue culture plate containing 300 microliters RPMI (supplemented with 10% FCS, penicillin, streptomycin, and beta-mercaptoethanol) with 10 nanograms per mL interleukin-3. Cells are incubated overnight at 37&deg;C, then assayed 24 hours later for expression and suppression.</li>
</ol>
Transfection Results
The fluorescent microscopy image of the cells after successful electroporation using 20 micrograms per mL GFP plasmid is shown in the video. Using the MXcell electroporation system transfection efficiencies of about 30% can be obtained. The system allows you to vary conditions to maximize your transfection efficiency, while maintaining cell viability.

As more genomic information emerges and new tools such as siRNA are developed, the use of physiologically relevant cells has become ever more important to further our understanding of disease pathways, protein-protein interactions, and signal transduction. Primary cells are obtained directly from tissues or fluids and cultivated in vitro. These cells can be manipulated in a number of ways, including through the introduction of exogenous genetic material. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the most effective way to introduce plasmid DNA or siRNA into primary cells is electroporation.
Electroporation exposes cells to electric pulses in order to transiently increase the permeability of the cell membrane, thereby allowing exogenous nucleic acids to enter the cell. This method of transfection can be optimized to accommodate for differences between different cell types/lines and, thus, can be used to transfect mast cells as well as any other bone marrow-derived cell. Furthermore, unlike viral-mediated transfection, electroporation does not impose limits on the size of transfected DNA, nor require extensive preparation. In contrast to lipid-mediated transfection, electroporation can be less toxic and does not result in endosomal trapping of the transfected nucleic acid.
Bio-Rad has developed the MXcell electroporation system specifically for these cells. the MXcell allows you to vary conditions to maximize your transfection efficiency and cell viability. In order to optimize transfection efficiency and minimize cell death, a multitude of electroporation parameters including voltage, capacitance, resistance, and pulse length can be adjusted and evaluated.

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the preparation of primary hematopoietic cell cultures from murine bone marrow for electroporation

It is becoming increasingly apparent that electroporation is the most effective way to introduce plasmid DNA or siRNA into primary cells. The Gene Pulser MXcell  electroporation system and Gene Pulser  electroporation buffer were specifically developed to transfect nucleic acids into mammalian cells and difficult-to-transfect cells, such as primary and stem cells.This video demonstrates how to establish primary hematopoietic cell cultures from murine bone marrow, and then prepare them for electroporation in the MXcell system. We begin by isolating femur and tibia. Bone marrow from both femur and tibia are then harvested and cultures are established. Cultured bone marrow cells are then transfected and analyzed.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Preparation of Primary Hematopoietic Cell Cultures From Murine Bone Marrow for Electroporation at JoVE.com

The Preparation of Primary Hematopoietic Cell Cultures From Murine Bone Marrow for Electroporation

This procedure describes how to establish primary hematopoietic cell cultures from murine bone marrow and is followed by transfection using the Gene Pulser MXCell electroporation system.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that electroporation is the most effective way to introduce plasmid DNA or siRNA into primary cells. The Gene Pulser ...

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Video: The Preparation of Primary Hematopoietic Cell Cultures From Murine Bone Marrow for Electroporation

Derivation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells from Murine Embryonic Stem Cells

A stem cell is defined as a cell with the capacity to both self-renew and generate multiple differentiated progeny.  Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are derived from the blastocyst of the early embryo and are pluripotent in differentiative ability.  Their vast differentiative potential has made them the focus of much research centered on deducing how to coax them to generate clinically useful cell types.  The successful derivation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) from mouse ESC has recently been accomplished and can be visualized in this video protocol.  HSC, arguably the most clinically exploited cell population, are used to treat a myriad of hematopoietic malignancies and disorders.  However, many patients that might benefit from HSC therapy lack access to suitable donors.  ESC could provide an alternative source of HSC for these patients.  The following protocol establishes a baseline from which ESC-HSC can be studied and inform efforts to isolate HSC from human ESC.  In this protocol, ESC are differentiated as embryoid bodies (EBs) for 6 days in commercially available serum pre-screened for optimal hematopoietic differentiation.  EBs are then dissociated and infected with retroviral HoxB4.  Infected EB-derived cells are plated on OP9 stroma, a bone marrow stromal cell line derived from the calvaria of  M-CSF-/- mice, and co-cultured in the presence of hematopoiesis promoting cytokines for ten days.  During this co-culture, the infected cells expand greatly, resulting in the generation a heterogeneous pool of 100s of millions of cells.  These cells can then be used to rescue and reconstitute lethally irradiated mice.

This protocol details the derivation of transplantable hematopoietic stem cells from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESC) and their subsequent injection into lethally irradiated recipient mice. Briefly, ESC are differentiated as embryoid bodies, which are then infected with retroviral HoxB4 and co-cultured with OP9 stromal cells and hematopoietic cytokines.

A stem cell is defined as a cell with the capacity to both self-renew and generate multiple differentiated progeny.  Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are ...

Primary Neuronal Cultures from the Brains of Late Stage Drosophila Pupae

In this video, we demonstrate the preparation of primary neuronal cultures from the brains of late stage Drosophila pupae. The procedure begins with the removal of brains from animals at 70-78 hrs after puparium formation. The isolated brains are shown after brief incubation in papain followed by several washes in serum-free growth medium. The process of mechanical dissociation of each brain in a 5 ul drop of media on a coverslip is illustrated. The axons and dendrites of the post-mitotic neurons are sheered off near the soma during dissociation but the neurons begin to regenerate processes within a few hours of plating. Images show live cultures at 2 days. Neurons continue to elaborate processes during the first week in culture. Specific neuronal populations can be identified in culture using GAL4 lines to drive tissue specific expression of fluorescent markers such as  GFP or RFP. Whole cell recordings have demonstrated the cultured neurons form functional, spontaneously active cholinergic and GABAergic synapses. A short video segment illustrates calcium dynamics in the cultured neurons using Fura-2 as a calcium indicator dye to monitor spontaneous calcium transients and nicotine evoked calcium responses in a dish of cultured neurons. These pupal brain cultures are a useful model system in which genetic and pharmacological tools can be used to identify intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence formation and function of central synapses.

This video demonstrates the preparation of primary neuronal cultures from the brains of late stage Drosophila pupae. Views of live cultures show neurite outgrowth and imaging of calcium levels using Fura-2.

In this video, we demonstrate the preparation of primary neuronal cultures from the brains of late stage Drosophila pupae. The procedure begins with the ...

Electroporation of Mycobacteria

High efficiency transformation is a major limitation in the study of mycobacteria. The genus Mycobacterium can be difficult to transform; this is mainly caused by the thick and waxy cell wall, but is compounded by the fact that most molecular techniques have been developed for distantly-related species such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. In spite of these obstacles, mycobacterial plasmids have been identified and DNA transformation of many mycobacterial species have now been described. The most successful method for introducing DNA into mycobacteria is electroporation. Many parameters contribute to successful transformation; these include the species/strain, the nature of the transforming DNA, the selectable marker used, the growth medium, and the  conditions for the electroporation pulse. Optimized methods for the transformation of both slow- and fast-grower are detailed here. Transformation efficiencies for different mycobacterial species and with various selectable markers are reported.

Mycobacterial pathogenic strategies remain poorly understood. The slow growth rate of most species, the impenetrable nature of the cell-wall, and the hazards of working with pathogens make mycobacteria difficult to study and are largely responsible for our poor understanding of these organisms. In this video we will demonstrate the technique of electroporation, which involves subjecting cells to a brief high electrical impulse to allow the entry of DNA. It is the most widely used method for introducing DNA into mycobacterial cells.

High efficiency transformation is a major limitation in the study of mycobacteria. The genus Mycobacterium can be difficult to transform; this is mainly ...

Culture of myeloid dendritic cells from bone marrow precursors

Myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) are frequently used to study the interactions between innate and adaptive immune mechanisms and the early response to infection. Because these are the most potent antigen presenting cells, DCs are being increasingly used as a vaccine vector to study the induction of antigen-specific immune responses. In this video, we demonstrate the procedure for harvesting tibias and femurs from a donor mouse, processing the bone marrow and differentiating DCs in vitro. The properties of DCs change following stimulation: immature dendritic cells are potent phagocytes, whereas mature DCs are capable of antigen presentation and interaction with CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. This change in functional activity corresponds with the upregulation of cell surface markers and cytokine production. Many agents can be used to mature DCs, including cytokines and toll-like receptor ligands. In this video, we demonstrate flow cytometric comparisons of expression of two co-stimulatory molecules, CD86 and CD40, and the cytokine, IL-12, following overnight stimulation with CpG or mock treatment. After differentiation, DCs can be further manipulated for use as a vaccine vector or to generate antigen-specific immune responses by in vitro pulsing using peptides or proteins, or transduced using recombinant viral vectors. 

This video demonstrates the procedure for differentiating myeloid dendritic cells from mouse bone marrow. Isolation of mouse tibia and femur, and processing of bone marrow are demonstrated. Pictures demonstrating cell morphology before and after differentiation, and figures depicting cell phenotype and IL-12 production following maturation using CpG are shown.

Myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) are frequently used to study the interactions between innate and adaptive immune mechanisms and the early response to ...

Primary Dissociated Midbrain Dopamine Cell Cultures from Rodent Neonates

The ability to create primary cell cultures of dopamine neurons allows for the study of the presynaptic characteristics of dopamine neurons in isolation from systemic input from elsewhere in the brain. In our lab, we use these neurons to assess dopamine release kinetics using carbon fiber amperometry, as well as expression levels of dopamine related genes and proteins using quantitative PCR and immunocytochemistry. In this video, we show you how we generate these cultures from rodent neonates.
The process involves several steps, including the plating of cortical glial astrocytes, the conditioning of neuronal cell culture media by the glial substrate, the dissection of the midbrain in neonates, the digestion, extraction and plating of dopamine neurons and the addition of neurotrophic factors to ensure cell survival.
The applications suitable for such a preparation include electrophysiology, immunocytochemistry, quantitative PCR, video microscopy (i.e., of real-time vesicular fusion with the plasma membrane), cell viability assays and other toxicological screens.

Primary dissociated midbrain dopamine cell cultures allow for the study of presynaptic characteristics of dopamine neurons. They can be used to monitor real-time dopamine release kinetics and protein/mRNA levels of regulators of dopamine exocytosis. Here, we show you how to generate these cultures from rodent neonates.

The ability to create primary cell cultures of dopamine neurons allows for the study of the presynaptic characteristics of dopamine neurons in isolation ...

Homing of Hematopoietic Cells to the Bone Marrow

Homing is the phenomenon whereby transplanted hematopoietic cells are able to travel to and engraft or establish residence in the bone marrow. Various chemomkines and receptors are involved in the homing of hematopoietic stem cells. [1, 2]
This paper outlines the classic homing protocol used in hematopoietic stem cell studies. In general this involves isolating the cell population whose homing needs to be investigated, staining this population with a dye of interest and injecting these cells into the blood stream of a recipient animal. The recipient animal is then sacrificed at a pre-determined time after injection and the bone marrow evaluated for the percentage or absolute number of cells which are positive for the dye of interest. In one of the most common experimental schemes, the homing efficiency of hematopoietic cells from two genetically distinct animals (a wild type animal and the corresponding knock-out) is compared. This article describes the hematopoietic cell homing protocol in the framework of such as experiment.

This article describes a protocol used to study the homing of hematopoietic cells to their niches in the bone marrow.

Homing is the phenomenon whereby transplanted hematopoietic cells are able to travel to and engraft or establish residence in the bone marrow.  Various ...

Primary Culture and Plasmid Electroporation of the Murine Organ of Corti. 

In all mammals, the sensory epithelium for audition is located along the spiraling organ of Corti that resides within the conch shaped cochlea of the inner ear (fig 1). Hair cells in the developing cochlea, which are the mechanosensory cells of the auditory system, are aligned in one row of inner hair cells and three (in the base and mid-turns) to four (in the apical turn) rows of outer hair cells that span the length of the organ of Corti. Hair cells transduce sound-induced mechanical vibrations of the basilar membrane into neural impulses that the brain can interpret. Most cases of sensorineural hearing loss are caused by death or dysfunction of cochlear hair cells.
An increasingly essential tool in auditory research is the isolation and in vitro culture of the organ explant 1,2,9. Once isolated, the explants may be utilized in several ways to provide information regarding normative, anomalous, or therapeutic physiology. Gene expression, stereocilia motility, cell and molecular biology, as well as biological approaches for hair cell regeneration are examples of experimental applications of organ of Corti explants.
This protocol describes a method for the isolation and culture of the organ of Corti from neonatal mice. The accompanying video includes stepwise directions for the isolation of the temporal bone from mouse pups, and subsequent isolation of the cochlea, spiral ligament, and organ of Corti. Once isolated, the sensory epithelium can be plated and cultured in vitro in its entirety, or as a further dissected micro-isolate that lacks the spiral limbus and spiral ganglion neurons. Using this method, primary explants can be maintained for 7-10 days. As an example of the utility of this procedure, organ of Corti explants will be electroporated with an exogenous DsRed reporter gene. This method provides an improvement over other published methods because it provides reproducible, unambiguous, and stepwise directions for the isolation, microdissection, and primary culture of the organ of Corti.

Primary Culture and Plasmid Electroporation of the Murine Organ of Corti.

This procedure describes a method for the isolation and culture of the murine organ of Corti with or without the spiral limbus and spiral ganglion neurons. We also demonstrate a method for the expression of an exogenous reporter gene in the organ of Corti explant by electroporation.

In all mammals, the sensory epithelium for audition is located along the spiraling organ of Corti that resides within the conch shaped cochlea of the ...

Primary Cell Cultures from Drosophila Gastrula Embryos

Here we describe a method for preparing and culturing primary cells dissociated from Drosophila gastrula embryos. In brief, a large amount of staged embryos from young and healthy flies are collected, sterilized, and then physically dissociated into a single cell suspension using a glass homogenizer. After being plated on culture plates or chamber slides at an appropriate density in culture medium, these cells can further differentiate into several morphologically-distinct cell types, which can be identified by their specific cell markers. Furthermore, we present conditions for treating these cells with double stranded (ds) RNAs to elicit gene knockdown. Efficient RNAi in Drosophila primary cells is accomplished by simply bathing the cells in dsRNA-containing culture medium. The ability to carry out effective RNAi perturbation, together with other molecular, biochemical, cell imaging analyses, will allow a variety of questions to be answered in Drosophila primary cells, especially those related to differentiated muscle and neuronal cells.

Primary Cell Cultures from Drosophila Gastrula Embryos

We provide a detailed protocol for preparing primary cells dissociated from Drosophila embryos. The ability to carry out the effective RNAi perturbation, together with other molecular, biochemical and cell imaging methods will allow a variety of questions to be addressed in Drosophila primary cells.

Here we describe a method for preparing and culturing primary cells dissociated from Drosophila gastrula embryos.   In brief, a large amount of staged ...

Preparation of Primary Myogenic Precursor Cell/Myoblast Cultures from Basal Vertebrate Lineages

Due to the inherent difficulty and time involved with studying the myogenic program in vivo, primary culture systems derived from the resident adult stem cells of skeletal muscle, the myogenic precursor cells (MPCs), have proven indispensible to our understanding of mammalian skeletal muscle development and growth. Particularly among the basal taxa of Vertebrata, however, data are limited describing the molecular mechanisms controlling the self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation of MPCs. Of particular interest are potential mechanisms that underlie the ability of basal vertebrates to undergo considerable postlarval skeletal myofiber hyperplasia (i.e.&#160;teleost fish) and full regeneration following appendage loss (i.e.&#160;urodele amphibians). Additionally, the use of cultured myoblasts could aid in the understanding of regeneration and the recapitulation of the myogenic program and the differences between them. To this end, we describe in detail a robust and efficient protocol (and variations therein) for isolating and maintaining MPCs and their progeny, myoblasts and immature myotubes, in cell culture as a platform for understanding the evolution of the myogenic program, beginning with the more basal vertebrates. Capitalizing on the model organism status of the zebrafish (Danio rerio), we report on the application of this protocol to small fishes of the cyprinid clade Danioninae. In tandem, this protocol can be utilized to realize a broader comparative approach by isolating MPCs from the Mexican axolotl (Ambystomamexicanum) and even laboratory rodents. This protocol is now widely used in studying myogenesis in several fish species, including rainbow trout, salmon, and sea bream1-4.

In vitro culture systems have proven indispensible to our understanding of vertebrate myogenesis. However, much remains to be learned about nonmammalian skeletal muscle development and growth, particularly in basal taxa. An efficient and robust protocol for isolating the adult stem cells of this tissue, the myogenic precursor cells (MPCs), and maintaining their self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation in a primary culture setting allows for the identification of conserved and divergent regulatory mechanisms throughout the vertebrate lineages.

Due to the inherent difficulty and time involved with studying the myogenic program in vivo, primary culture systems derived from the resident adult stem ...

Osteoclast Derivation from Mouse Bone Marrow

Osteoclasts are highly specialized cells that are derived from the monocyte/macrophage lineage of the bone marrow. Their unique ability to resorb both the organic and inorganic matrices of bone means that they play a key role in regulating skeletal remodeling. Together, osteoblasts and osteoclasts are responsible for the dynamic coupling process that involves both bone resorption and bone formation acting together to maintain the normal skeleton during health and disease.
As the principal bone-resorbing cell in the body, changes in osteoclast differentiation or function can result in profound effects in the body. Diseases associated with altered osteoclast function can range in severity from lethal neonatal disease due to failure to form a marrow space for hematopoiesis, to more commonly observed pathologies such as osteoporosis, in which excessive osteoclastic bone resorption predisposes to fracture formation.
An ability to isolate osteoclasts in high numbers in vitro has allowed for significant advances in the understanding of the bone remodeling cycle and has paved the way for the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies that combat these diseases. 
Here, we describe a protocol to isolate and cultivate osteoclasts from mouse bone marrow that will yield large numbers of osteoclasts.

Osteoclasts are the principal bone-resorbing cell in the body. An ability to isolate osteoclasts in large numbers has resulted in significant advances in the understanding of osteoclast biology. In this protocol, we describe a method for isolation, cultivating and quantifying osteoclast activity in vitro.

Osteoclasts are highly specialized cells that are derived from the monocyte/macrophage lineage of the bone marrow. Their unique ability to resorb both the ...