Mechanical Dissociation: A Method to Obtain Viable Cells from a Tissue

Abstract

Source: Garaud et. al., A Simple and Rapid Protocol to Non-enzymatically Dissociate Fresh Human Tissues for the Analysis of Infiltrating Lymphocytes. J. Vis. Exp. (2014).

This video describes the non-enzymatic dissociation of fresh human tissue to obtain viable cells. The technique is used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of CD45 positive cells (lymphocytes/leukocytes) present in various normal and malignant human tissues.

Protocol

1. Preparation of the Tissue Homogenate Dissect resected tissues (malignant and normal tissue resected from the operating room) are in the pathology lab by trained personnel for immediate pickup. Tumor, NANT (taken the furthest distance from the tumor as possible) and normal tissue fragments are routinely processed within 1 – 3 hr of surgical excision in a BSL2 laboratory using standard biosafety procedures for human tissues. A flow chart of the protocol is illustrated in Figure 1. …

Representative Results

Figure 1: Protocol flow chart. Our procedure for processing fresh human tissues and some analytical approaches that can subsequently be used to assess lymphocytes infiltrating human tissues are shown. Figure 2: H&E stained image of a breast tumor tissue imprint. This impr…

Materials

GentleMacs Dissociator	Miltenyi Biotec	130-093-235	BD Medimachine is somewhat equivalent
Centrifuge 5810 R	Eppendorf		or other standard table top centrifuge
Centrifuge 5417 R	Eppendorf		or other standard microcentrifuge
Esco Class II A2 Biosafety Cabinet	ESCO global		or other standard BSL2 hood
Inverted Microscope	Nikon eclipse TS100		or other microscope compatible for a hemacytometer
Bürker Chamber Marienfield		640210	or other standard hemacytometer
Navios Flow Cytometer	Beckman Coulter		or other flow cytometer (8-10 color recommended)
GentleMacs C-Tube	Miltenyi Biotec	130-096-344	BD Medimachine uses Filcon
Cell Culture Dish	Sarstedt	72,710	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
Disposable Scalpel	Swann-Morton	510	or standard single use sterile scalpel
BD Cell Strainer 40 µm	Becton Dickinson	734-0002	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
BD Falcon Tube 50 ml	Becton Dickinson	352070	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
BD Falcon Tube 15 ml	Becton Dickinson	352097	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
BD FACS Tube 5 ml	Becton Dickinson	352008	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
Sterile Pasteur Pipette 5 ml	VWR	612-1685	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
Microfuge Tube 1.5 ml	Eppendorf	7805-00	or other non-pyrogenic plasticware
X-Vivo 20	Lonza	BE04-448Q	serum-free medium recommended
Phosphate buffered saline	Lonza	BE17-516F	standard physiological PBS
Trypan blue	VWR	17942E	or other vital stain