Stem Cell

Human Adipose-derived Stem/Stromal Cells (ASCs) have been widely used in stem cell and obesity research, as well as clinical applications including cell-based therapies, tissue engineering and reconstruction. Compared with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from other tissues such as umbilical cord and bone marrow, isolation of ASCs from human white adipose tissue (WAT) has great advantages due to its rich tissue source and simple surgical procedure. In this detailed protocol we describe a protocol to isolate and characterize ASCs from human WAT. Molecular characterization of isolated ASCs was performed through surface marker expression profiling using flow cytometry. Adipogenic capacity of the isolated ASCs was confirmed through inducing adipogenic differentiation and Oil Red O staining of lipid. This protocol provides researchers with the tools to culture and assess purity and adipogenic differentiation capacity of human ASCs, which can then be utilized for required downstream in vitro applications.

This protocol has been modified from Baglioni et al. (2009), Baglioni et al. (2012), and van Harmelen et al. (2005) to describe in detail a complete technique to isolate and subsequently characterize human ASCs from human WAT biopsies. This protocol has been utilized to isolate and characterize human ASCs from both subcutaneous and visceral WAT. The isolated human ASCs show high purity and demonstrate adipogenic differentiation capacity in vitro.

The isolation and primary culture of cells from human endometrial biopsies provides valuable experimental material for reproductive and gynaecological research. Whole endometrial biopsies are collected from consenting women and digested with collagenase and DNase I to dissociate cells from the extracellular matrix. Cell populations are then isolated through culturing, filtering and magnetic separation using cell-surface antigen markers. Here we provide a comprehensive protocol on how to isolate and culture individual cell types from whole endometrial tissues for use in in vitro experiments.

To assess the capacity of multipotent stromal cells (MSC) to induce the generation of Tregs, transwell co-cultures were performed as well as cultures with MSC-conditioned medium (CM). In short, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were co-cultured with allogeneic MSC or CM for one week followed by one week of culture in the absence of MSC.

To assess the effect of multipotent stromal cells (MSC) on monocytes, 3-day cultures were performed of freshly isolated monocytes in MSC-conditioned medium (CM). As a control condition, monocytes were stimulated with low dose macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). Monocytes were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) populations by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) using CD14 microbeads.

This protocol is useful to determine the frequencies of lymphohematopoietic progenitors in tested samples. To effectively support the growth and differentiation of primitive lymphohematopoietic progenitors, complex signals from stromal cells are important. Several stromal cell lines are known to support both lymphoid and myeloid cells simultaneously in mouse. In this protocol, we introduce two stromal co-culture systems for murine lymphohematopoietic progenitors and their application for limiting dilution assays.

Generating mouse multipotent stromal cells (MSC) from bone-marrow cells is usefull for a wide range of applications. Effectively, these MSC can differentiate into adipocytes, osteocytes [See “Binding to Secreted Bone Matrix in vitro” (Tormo et al., 2014)] or chondrocytes upon culture in specific differentiation medium.

This method examines the bone matrix binding capacity of proteins. Using osteogenic differentiation medium, multipotent stromal cells (MSC) are induced to differentiate into osteocytes in vitro and to secrete bone matrix. The latter is confirmed using Alizarin red S staining, which detects the presence of calcific deposits (hydroxyapatite). These calcific deposits are used to test the bone binding properties of proteins. The binding to the calcific deposits is assessed by Western blot analysis.