Animals: C57BL/6mice are commonly used for T cell isolation. In addition, CD45.1 and Thy1.1 congenic strains are available through Jackson Laboratories (Bar Harbor, ME).
Culture media: IMDM (Iscove’s Modified Dulbecco’s Medium + L-Glutamine + Hepes) plus 10% heat-inactivated FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum, low endotoxin, Gibco®, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 mg/ml streptomycin (HyClone Antibiotics, Waltham, MA), 0.5 mg/ml fungizone/amphotericin B (Gibco), and 50 mM b-mercaptoethanol.
ACK Red Blood Cell Lysis buffer(RBC, 10 mM KHCO3, 150 mM NH4Cl, 0.1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0), adjust to pH 7.2-7.4 and store at room temperature).
PBS (Phosphate Buffered Saline, Hyclone, Waltham, MA).
Flow cytometry (FACS) media(PBS or IMDM + 2% FBS + 5 mM EDTA). When staining using Selectin-Fc chimeras, media with 2 mM Ca++ should be used in all steps (including FACS acquisition). IMDM is recommended in this case.
T cell labeling and adoptive transfer: CFSE(carboxyfluorescein diacetate, succinimidyl ester), CMTMR ((5-(and-6)-(((4-chloromethyl)benzoyl)amino) tetramethylrhodamine) from Molecular Probes®, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). 1000 x stocks should be made in DMSO (5 mM CFSE, 20 mM CMTMR) and stored at -20°C.
Polyclonal T cell activation: 24-well or 96-well plates (tissue-culture treated, polystyrene, flat-bottom with lid, BD Falcon, Franklin Lakes, NJ) are incubated for 2 hours at 37°C with 50 ml PBS, respectively, containing anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 antibodies (10 mg/mL each). Then, culture plates are washed twice with PBS and used immediately for T cell culture. Alternatively, Dynabeads coated with anti-CD3/anti-CD28 (Dynal, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) can be used for T cell activation instead of plate-bound antibodies.
Flow cytometry (FACS) staining: Polyclonal activation: CD3 (1452C11), CD28 (37.51). Lineage mAb: CD4 (L3T4), CD8a (Ly-2), Thy1.2 (CD90.2/53-1.2), CD45.2 (104). Gut-homing receptors: purified CCR9 (CD199/eBioCW-1.2, eBioscience, San Diego, CA), a4b7(LPAM-1/DATK3), isotype control (IgG2a, k). Skin-homing receptors: P-selectin-Fc (Purified Mouse P-Selectin – IgG Fusion Protein, BD Pharmingen, San Jose, CA), E-selectin-Fc (Recombinant Mouse E-Selectin/Fc Chimera, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) plus corresponding secondary reagent goat F(ab’)2 anti-human IgG R-PE (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA).
All-trans retinoic acid(Sigma, St. Louis, MO)is resuspended in absolute ethanol or DMSO using a yellow bulb or an indirect source of light during the preparation. Store aliquots in glass vials at -80°C and protected from light at all times. Synthetic RAR-agonists: Am80(Wako Chemicals, Richmond, VA).