semi-automated mechanical dissociation of mouse tissues to generate single-cell suspensions

Semi-Automated Mechanical-Enzymatic Tissue Dissociation for Single-Cell Analysis

Single-cell analysis has rapidly become crucial for new biomedical discoveries, whether for applications such as flow cytometry, identifying different cell types, single-cell sequencing, or for identifying genomic or transcriptomic variations between cells1. Performing such cell isolations from tissues of interest&#160;requires mincing dissected tissues and pushing them through a fine cell strainer to filter out connective tissue from the desired cells (Figure 1A). Isolating adherent cell types, such as dendritic cells or macrophages, or cells from particularly fibrous tissues, requires additional mechanical or enzymatic separation steps2,3,4. This process is generally done manually, making it highly time-consuming and prone to user variability when assessing cell yields and sample viability. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce customizable options for automated tissue dissociation. While some attempts have been made to design such systems, the existing options are not always readily accessible, particularly in academic labs and lower-resource settings, largely due to the cost-prohibitive nature of these devices5. Furthermore, these devices are not always customizable to the individual needs of a research group6.
Here, a tissue dissociator device was designed to automate the digestion of whole tissues or tissue pieces into single-cell suspensions with the aid of digestive enzymes and mechanical disruption. This device can be easily assembled in the lab, placed into heating or cooling chambers for temperature regulation, customized for the required number of tissues to dissociate, and programmed with the desired dissociation protocols. The broad use of this device could significantly improve the reproducibility of cell extraction protocols and provide a time-saving alternative to manual dissociation.
The design allows for the simultaneous digestion of up to 12 tissues through an automated process. The device is composed of 12 individual motors wired in parallel and powered by a standard wall plug through an AC/DC adapter with an adjustable voltage dial to control the rotation/speed of the motors. The motors turn a hex bolt that fits snugly into the top of the C-tubes. The C-tubes are held in place by downward tension on an acrylic plate that latches on either side to the top plate where the motors are secured (Figure 1B). Because the motors are wired in parallel, their speed at any given voltage should not vary much, but the load (the number of C-tubes mounted on the device) will affect speed even when the voltage is kept constant. To measure rotations per minute (rpm), a tachometer has been incorporated using a hall effect sensor and a fixed magnet on one of the motor shafts (Supplementary Figure 1). The CAD files for building motor arrays are provided in Supplementary Coding File 1. Also included is a programmable switch to reverse the direction of rotation by reversing the positive/negative charges delivered to the motors. All of these features are integrated using coded software (Arduino IDE software, see Table of Materials) on an Arduino Nano (Supplementary Coding File 2). Using connected buttons and an LCD panel (Supplementary Figure 2), it is possible to create and run saved and custom protocols, automatically reverse the rotational direction at specified times of a protocol, adjust speed using the voltage (Supplementary Figure 3), and display the current motor speed and time left to complete a programmed protocol (Supplementary Figure 4).
For the present study, single-cell suspensions were prepared using both mechanical-enzymatic tissue dissociation with this device and manual-enzymatic tissue dissociation to determine differences, if any, in cells recovered for downstream applications. The cell preparations were evaluated based on total cell yields per tissue and&#160;percent cell viability. Flow&#160;cytometry was used to compare potential differences in surface marker expression. Data were analyzed using graphing and statistical analysis software. Unpaired Welch t-tests were used to compare pairs of samples or groups, with sample sizes n &#62; 4 mice representing 2 replicate experiments. Detailed instructions for the fabrication and assembly of this device can be found in Supplementary File 1. Materials needed for this protocol are listed in the Table of Materials.

Author Spotlight: Advancements in Nanoparticle Technology for Drug Delivery and Immunotherapy

Mechanical Dissociation of Tissues for Single Cell Analysis Using a Motorized Device

Our lab develops nanoparticles as tools to study biological barriers and to overcome these barriers at mucosal surfaces to improve drug delivery and immunotherapy. One of the most notable developments is the COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna that use lipid nanoparticle formulations to deliver mRNA for vaccination. There are a lot of ongoing efforts to improve immunotherapies like vaccines and cancer treatments using nanoparticles, as these formulations could improve target delivery to immune cells and reduce the systemic side effects of immunotherapies.Single cell analysis is an essential component of immunology in biomedical research, one of the most common techniques being flow cytometry. Performing such cell isolations from tissues of interest requires reliable tissue dissociation. Making laboratory research more accessible without compromising quality and accuracy can be challenging.Automating processes makes technical and labor intensive steps easier to learn and allows trainees to gain experience doing more sophisticated analyses without affecting the reliability of results. The main advantage of this protocol and the accompanying device design is its customizability and cost effectiveness. The ability to process up to 12 tissues simultaneously reduces processing times.This low cost alternative makes this technology more accessible in lower resourced research settings.

Semi-Automated Mechanical Dissociation of Mouse Tissues to Generate Single-Cell Suspensions

To begin, place the dissected mouse tissue in a cold cell culture medium containing 5%FBS. Using sharp dissection scissors, chop the tissue until approximately five millimeters fragments are obtained. Transfer the chopped fragments to a C-tube and add one milliliter of cell culture media.Load the C-tube onto the motorized device and fit the tube holder plate over the D-shaped tube bottoms. Latch the tension arms into the acrylic plate to secure the tubes to the motor plate. To set a custom program on the motorized device from the main menu, press the blue button to choose custom mode.In the first custom mode menu, press the green button to specify the duration of forward rotation to 30 seconds. Then press the blue button to select the on screen value. In the second custom mode menu, press the green button to specify the duration of reverse rotation to 10 seconds.Then press the blue button to select the on screen value. In the third custom mode menu, press the red button to specify the selection loops to four times. Then press the blue button to select the on screen value.Adjust the voltage control dial to 200 RPM and start the custom program. Next, add digestion enzyme in four milliliters of cold culture media containing dissected tissues. Again, load the C-tube onto the device and repeat the custom program as demonstrated previously.After the run, transfer the device with the loaded tubes to a 37 degree Celsius incubator for 45 minutes. Next, load the C-tube onto the device and set the custom program at 50 RPM with forward rotation to 270 seconds. Reverse rotation to 30 seconds and looping nine times.Add EDTA to a five millimolar final concentration to the sample. Set the custom program at 100 RPM with forward rotation to 30 seconds. Reverse rotation to 10 seconds and looping twice.Next, pass the cell suspension through a 70 micrometer cell strainer and collect the filtrate in a 50 or 15 milliliter tube. Centrifuge the collected cell suspension at 300 G for five minutes at four degrees Celsius and discard the supernatant. Re-suspend the pellet in one milliliter of red blood cell lysis buffer, and incubate for one minute.Neutralize the lysis buffer with nine milliliters of cold PBS. Again, centrifuge the cells and re-suspend the pellet in the desired buffer or media. Cell suspension prepared with motorized device and manual dissociation exhibited comparable cell viability and yields across mouse lung, kidney, and heart tissues.Immune cell populations like T-cells and dendritic cells were not significantly affected by the isolation protocol. Surface marker expression also showed similar frequencies of isolated T-cells in mean fluorescence intensity for the antigen presentation marker MHC II in dendritic cells between manual and device isolation.

Research

JoVE Journal

Bioengineering

Being able to isolate and prepare single cells for the analysis of tissue samples has rapidly become crucial for new biomedical discoveries and research. ...