This protocol describes a non-enzymatic and straightforward method for isolating 7-9-day-old neonatal mouse bone marrow cells and generating differentiated macrophages using a supernatant of L929 cells as a source of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). The bone marrow-derived macrophages were further analyzed for surface antigens F4/80, CD206, CD11b, and functional competency.
Various techniques for isolating bone marrow from adult mice have been well established. However, isolating bone marrow from neonatal mice is challenging and time-consuming, yet for some models, it is translationally relevant and necessary. This protocol describes an efficient and straightforward method for preparing bone marrow cells from 7-9-day-old pups. These cells can then be further isolated or differentiated into specific cell types of interest. Macrophages are crucial immune cells that play a major role in inflammation and infection. During development, neonatal macrophages contribute significantly to tissue remodeling. Moreover, the phenotype and functions of neonatal macrophages differ from those of their adult counterparts. This protocol also outlines the differentiation of neonatal macrophages from the isolated bone marrow cells in the presence of L929-conditioned medium. Surface markers for differentiated neonatal macrophages were assessed using flow cytometric analysis. To demonstrate functionality, the phagocytic efficiency was also tested using pH-sensitive dye-conjugated Escherichia coli.
Bone marrow encloses both hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell populations that are self-renewable and can be differentiated into various cell lineages. Hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow give rise to myeloid and lymphoid lineages1. Mesenchymal stem cells produce osteoblasts (bone), adipocytes (fat), or chondrocytes (cartilage)2. These cells have multiple applications in the field of cell biology and tissue engineering, including gene therapy3,4. Progenitor cells present in the bone marrow differentiate into specific cell types in the presence of lineage-specific growth factors. Erythropoietin promotes the proliferation of erythroid progenitor cells, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) stimulates the growth of neutrophil colonies, and thrombopoietin regulates the production of platelets as a few examples of lineage-specific growth factors5. Cell surface antigen labeled FACS and magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) are well-established methods for isolation and purification of the specific bone marrow-derived cell types6.
Though neonatal studies are advancing toward finding the causes of neonatal deaths and addressing the complications during premature births, direct therapeutic development remains an unmet medical need. Smith and Davis stated, "Pediatric patients remain therapeutic orphans"7. There are several challenges, such as small samples, lifelong effects of the outcome, and ethical issues in obtaining consent in clinical studies of neonates8. Hence, there is a high demand for in vivo and in vitro study models specific to neonates to achieve translational relevance. Because of the similarities between anatomical and tissue levels, short gestational periods, and litter sizes, rodents are the most studied mammalian model system.
Here, we describe a detailed, highly feasible, and reproducible procedure for isolating bone marrow from 7-9-day-old mouse pups and their ability to differentiate into macrophages. However, a variety of cell lineages could be achieved with the use of distinct differentiation signals. We also demonstrate the presence of cell surface markers and the presence of in vitro phagocytic activity expected for bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs).
All procedures were approved by the West Virginia Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees and were performed following the recommendations of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals by the National Research Council. C57BL/6J mouse pups were used for this study. The details of all the reagents and equipment used are listed in the Table of Materials.
1. Media preparation
2. L929-cell supernatant preparation
3. Animal preparation
4. Isolation of neonatal bone marrow
5. Differentiation of neonatal bone marrow-derived macrophages
6. Immunolabeling and flow cytometric analysis
7. In vitro assay to evaluate the phagocytic efficacy of neonatal bone marrow-derived macrophages
Using the method outlined in this study, 25 to 37 million bone marrow cells can be successfully isolated from a litter size of five C57BL/6 mouse pups. This method has been validated with litter sizes ranging from 5 to 7 pups. The minimum age for isolation in our experiments has been 7 days old. Depending on the litter size and the number of cells required for the experiment being less than a million, researchers could attempt this protocol for mice younger than 7 days old. In the presence of L929-cell supernatant as a source of M-CSF, bone marrow cells were differentiated into macrophages in 5 days (Figure 2). Formation of spindle-shaped cells was observed on the second day of differentiation (Figure 2B), nearly half of the cells showed a spindle shape on day three (Figure 2C), and most of the cells adhered and formed elongated spindle shapes on day five of differentiation (Figure 2D). The yield of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) with this method was 2.5-5 million cells from 5 pups of 7 days of age.
To characterize the differentiated BMDMs phenotypically, cells from 5-day cultures were immunolabeled for CD11b, CD206, and F4/80. Forward/side scatter and single-marker gating schemes can be seen in Supplementary Figure 1. The results from the flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that 76.4% of the BMDMs are positive for both CD11b and F4/80 (Figure 3A). The F480-CD11b+ population is consistent with the approximate number of cells positive for CD206 (Figure 3B). The latter is generally considered a marker consistent with M2-like macrophages, and while the abundance of CD206 labeling can range as much as two-fold more, a higher proportion of F4/80 labeling is consistent with the ability of M-CSF to promote differentiation to an M1-like phenotype16,17(Figure 3).
We further evaluated the capability of the differentiated neonatal BMDMs to phagocytose bacteria and traffic them to acidified compartments as a functional measure. The bacteria labeled with a pH-sensitive dye should only fluoresce green when phagocytosed and trafficked to acidified compartments. Abundant green fluorescent bacteria phagocytosed inside the BMDMs were detected following infection (Figure 4A). The green fluorescence further localizes with red fluorescence indicative of acidified lysosomes (Figure 4B,C). The phagocytosis and appearance of green pH-sensitive dye-positive neonatal BMDMs were also observed throughout the 4 h infection (Figure 4D and Supplemental video). The functional activity displayed here is consistent with M1-like inflammatory macrophage activity.
Figure 1: Isolation of 7-day-old C57BL/6J mouse pups bone marrow. (A) Hind limb bones of 7-day-old pups in a 100 mm dish. (B) Hind limb of a 7-day-old pup after removing the skin and subcutaneous tissue; black dotted lines indicate the place to cut for the bone marrow extraction. (C) The neonatal hind limb processed bones with marrow prior to crushing. (D) The neonatal hind limb processed bones after crushing using a syringe plunger in a strainer. (E) The mean number ± standard error of bone marrow (BM) and bone marrow-derived macrophage cells obtained from three independent experiments. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: Differentiation of BMDMs from 7-day-old neonatal bone marrow cells. Bone marrow cells on day 1 (A), day 2 (B), day 3 (C), and day 5 of differentiation (D). Red arrows on panel B indicate spindle-shaped adhered cells on day 2 of differentiation. Scale bars: 200 µm. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3: Detection of murine macrophage markers using flow cytometric analysis. Differentiated neonatal bone marrow-derived macrophages showing the expression of F4/80 and CD11b (A) or CD206 and CD11b (B) surface antigens. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 4: Phagocytosis of pH-sensitive dye-labeled E. coli by neonatal BMDMs. (A) Bone marrow-derived macrophages showing phagocytosed pH-sensitive dye-labeled (green) E. coli after 4 h of infection. (B) BMDMs labeled with stain for acidified lysosomes (red). (C) Merged image of panels (A) and (B). Scale bars: 20 µm. (D) An overlay of green fluorescent bacteria on macrophages shown in phase contrast. Magnification in (D) is the same as that in (A). Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Supplementary video. A 4 h video of live cell imaging of green florescent bacteria by neonatal BMDMs as in Figure 4 panel A. Please click here to download this Video.
Supplementary Figure 1: Flow cytometry analysis of BMDMs. (A) BMDMs were first gated on FSC and SSC to remove debris and doublets. Single staining of F4/80 (B), CD11b (C), and CD206 (D) is shown. Please click here to download this File.
Research involving neonatal mouse models can present a number of challenges. Neonates have a developing immune system that is unique compared to adults8. As such, data generated from adult animal models should not be assumed to apply to newborns, and several published works have articulated this idea well18,19. Therefore, neonatal-specific models and sources of cells are necessary to study the intricacies of the early-life immune response. However, due to the size, sensitivity, and delicate nature of neonatal mice, the quantity of biological samples can be limited, and the collection process can be time-consuming. This protocol establishes a simple and time-efficient procedure for extracting bone marrow from neonatal mice.
Adult mouse bones are large enough to insert a needle and easily flush out the marrow. Conversely, accessing neonatal bone marrow with a needle is challenging due to its size and fragility. Some studies have employed enzymatic digestion with collagenase type II and dispase20. Here, due to the soft and tiny nature of neonatal bones, we adopted a crushing method to release the bone marrow. After purification, depending on the research application of interest, these cells can be differentiated into specific cell types.
Neonates exhibit distinct phenotypic macrophage populations21. This study elucidated the differentiation of BMDMs from day 7-9 aged pups’ bone marrow cells without using enzymes. Critical steps involved in the methodology include the overall delicate nature of neonatal mouse pups, the collection of the small bones in a manner that does not permit the release of bone marrow, and locating the proper place in the tibia and femur to make scissor cuts. We observed that neonatal BMDMs are more sensitive than adult BMDMs in culturing, and a longer duration of isolation of bone marrow from neonates prohibited their differentiation capability. Hence, extraction from more than 7 pups at a time is not suggested. Additionally, the addition of BMDM differentiation media on day two of differentiation also resulted in poor outcomes such as poor differentiation and lower viability.
This protocol used L929 cell supernatant as the source of M-CSF for the differentiation of bone marrow cells into macrophages. L929 cells are murine fibroblasts known to produce high amounts of M-CSF10. Macrophages are expected to be exposed to other substances secreted in the L929 supernatant, along with M-CSF. Commercial purified M-CSF can also be used for macrophage differentiation; however, we have not directly compared it with the use of L929 culture supernatant. It is also important to note that L de Brito Monteiro et al. observed distinct metabolic profiles between macrophages generated using L929 and commercial M-CSF22.
This method established a time-saving, economical approach without the use of any digestive enzymes. The technique yielded reliable isolation of neonatal bone marrow that resulted in clear differentiation of neonatal BMDMs. Isolated neonatal BMDMs can be further used to study neonatal macrophage dynamics during various infections and the regulation of inflammation by these cells. Limitations of the method include a learning curve for the initial establishment and adaptation to the pulling process of the small bones, which eventually improves with experience and minimizes the duration of the process with increased viability of the cells. The litter sizes of pups are an additional consideration for the number of macrophages that can be differentiated depending on experimental need.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [R01 AI163333] to CMR. We acknowledge additional funding support provided to the West Virginia University Flow Cytometry and Single Cell Core Facility by the following grants: WV CTSI grant GM104942, Tumor Microenvironment CoBRE grant GM121322 and NIH grant OD016165.
40 µm strainer | Greiner | 542040 | Cell culture |
96 well round (U) bottom plate | Thermo Scientific | 12-565-65 | Cell culture |
Anti-mouse CD11b-BV786 | BD Biosciences | 740861 | FACS analysis |
Anti-mouse CD206-Alexa Fluor488 | BD Biosciences | 141709 | FACS analysis |
Anti-mouse F4/80-PE | BD Biosciences | 565410 | FACS analysis |
Countess3 | Thermo Scientific | TSI-C3ACC | Automated cell counter |
DMEM | Hyclone | SH30022.01 | Cell culture |
DMSO | VWR | WN182 | Cell culture |
DPBS, 1x | Corning | 21-031-CV | Cell culture |
Escherichia coli O1:K1:H7 | ATCC | 11775 | Infection |
EVOS FL | Invitrogen | 12-563-649 | Cell Imaging System |
FBS | Avantor | 76419-584 | Cell culture |
FluoroBright BMDM | Thermo fisher Scientific | A1896701 | Dye free culture media |
Glutamine | Cytiva | SH30034.01 | Cell culture |
HEPES | Cytiva | SH30237.01 | Cell culture |
L-929 | ATCC | Differentiation | |
LSRFortessa | Becton Dickinson | Flowcytometer | |
Lysotracker red DND 99 | Invitrogen | L7528 | Fluorescent dye |
MEM | Corning | 15-010-CV | Cell culture |
Penicillin /streptomycin | Hyclone | SV30010 | Cell culture |
pHrodo green STP ester | Invitrogen | P35369 | Fluorescent dye |
T75 flask | Cell star | 658170 | Cell culture |
Trypsin-EDTA | Gibco | 25300120 | Cell culture |
Zeiss 710 | Zeiss | P20GM103434 | Confocal |