Isolation and Long-term Cultivation of Mouse Alveolar Macrophages
Clara Busch,
Jérémy Favret,
Laufey Geirsdóttir,
Kaaweh Molawi,
Michael Sieweke
Affiliations
Clara Busch
Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstraße 105, Dresden, GermanyMax-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtzgemeinschaft (MDC), Berlin, Germany
Jérémy Favret
Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstraße 105, Dresden, GermanyMax-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtzgemeinschaft (MDC), Berlin, Germany, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
Laufey Geirsdóttir
Aix Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
Kaaweh Molawi
Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtzgemeinschaft (MDC), Berlin, GermanyAix Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
Michael Sieweke
Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstraße 105, Dresden, GermanyMax-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtzgemeinschaft (MDC), Berlin, Germany, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
Alveolar macrophages (AM) are tissue-resident macrophages that colonize the lung around birth and can self-maintain long-term in an adult organism without contribution of monocytes. AM are located in the pulmonary alveoli and can be harvested by washing the lungs using the method of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Here, we compared different conditions of BAL to obtain high yields of murine AM for in vitro culture and expansion of AM. In addition, we describe specific culture conditions, under which AM proliferate long-term in liquid culture in the presence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. This method can be used to obtain large numbers of AM for in vivo transplantation or for in vitro experiments with primary mouse macrophages.
