Dissociation of Mouse Lung Tissue into a Single-Cell Suspension

This protocol describes how to prepare a single-cell suspension from 5 - 10 mouse lungs prior to downstream cell separation of different cell subsets. Depending on your specific downstream application, your optimal lung dissociation protocol may differ from the procedure described below. Check the EasySep™ kit-specific Product Information Sheet (PIS) for the recommended information.


Materials


Protocol

The following instructions are for processing 5 - 10 mouse lungs. If starting with more than 10 lungs, adjust volumes accordingly.

Part I: Mechanical Digestion of a Mouse Lung Sample

  1. Prepare 10 mL of dissociation medium by adding 1 mL of Collagenase/Hyaluronidase and 1.5 mL of DNase I Solution (1 mg/mL) to 7.5 mL of RPMI 1640 Medium. Warm to room temperature (15 - 25°C).
  2. Harvest lung tissue into a tube containing PBS with 2% FBS.
  3. Transfer lung tissue into a dish without the medium. Mince into a homogenous paste (< 1 mm in size) using a razor blade or scalpel.
  4. Transfer the minced lung tissue and the dissociation medium to a sterile 50 mL conical tube. Rinse the dish with the remaining 5 mL of dissociation medium and add it to the tube with the minced tissue. Incubate at 37°C for 20 mins on a shaking platform.

Part II: Preparation of a Single-Cell Suspension

  1. Place a 70 ÎĽm nylon mesh strainer over a 100 mm dish. Pre-wet the strainer with 5 mL of PBS containing 2% FBS. Transfer the digested lung tissue mixture into the strainer. Push the tissue through the strainer with the rubber end of a syringe plunger to obtain a cell suspension.
  2. Place a new 70 ÎĽm nylon mesh strainer over a 50 mL conical tube. Pre-wet the strainer with 5 mL of PBS containing 2% FBS. Transfer the mixture into the strainer and filter the cell suspension. Rinse the strainer with recommended medium*.
  3. Centrifuge at 300 x g for 10 minutes at room temperature with the brake on low. Carefully remove and discard the supernatant.
  4. Add 20 mL of ammonium chloride solution to the cell pellet and mix gently. Incubate for 5 - 15 minutes at room temperature or on ice (see kit-specific PIS for details).
  5. Top up to 50 mL with recommended medium*. Centrifuge at 300 x g for 10 minutes at room temperature with the brake on low. Carefully remove and discard the supernatant.
  6. Gently tap the tube to disassociate the cell pellet. Resuspend cells in the recommended medium* at the required cell concentration for your downstream procedure. Check the EasySep kit-specific Product Information Sheet for the recommended information depending on your downstream application.

*Recommended medium may vary depending on the downstream application. As an example, for cell separation using EasySep™ Mouse ILC2 Enrichment Kit, the recommended medium is EasySep™ Buffer (Catalog #20144) or PBS (e.g. Catalog #37350) with 2% FBS and 1 mM EDTA. Medium should be free of Ca++, Mg++, and biotin.

  • Document #PR00044
  • Version 1.0.0
  • May 2021


  • Related Resources and Products

    Neural Research Resources

    Innate Lymphoid Cell (ILC) Wallchart

    Get a free Nature Immunology wallchart summarizing the development, plasticity, and functional diversity of ILCs.

    Request a Copy >

    EasySep™ Mouse ILC2 Enrichment Kit

    Use EasySep™ immunomagnetic cell separation to enrich ILC2s from single-cell suspensions of lung tissue or other tissues by negative selection.

    View Product >