The in vitro isolation and analysis of pancreatic stem/progenitor cells are necessary for understanding their properties and function; however, the preparation of high-quality single-cell suspensions from adult pancre...The in vitro isolation and analysis of pancreatic stem/progenitor cells are necessary for understanding their properties and function; however, the preparation of high-quality single-cell suspensions from adult pancreas is pre- requisite. In this study, we applied a cold trypsin-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) digestion method to disas- sociate adult mouse pancreata into single cells. The yield of single cells and the viability of the harvested cells were much higher than those obtained via the two commonly used warm digestion methods. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the ratio of ductal or BCRPl-positive cells in cell suspensions prepared through cold digestion was con- sistent with that found in vivo. Cell culture tests showed that pancreatic epithelial cells prepared by cold digestion maintained proliferative capacity comparable to those derived from warm collagenase digestion. These results indicate that cold trypsin-EDTA digestion can effectively disassociate an adult mouse pancreas into viable single cells with minimal cell loss, and can be used for the isolation and analysis of pancreatic stem/progenitor cells.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31272520)the Special Fund for Scientific and Technological Innovation Talents in Harbin, China (No. 2012RFXXS048)
文摘The in vitro isolation and analysis of pancreatic stem/progenitor cells are necessary for understanding their properties and function; however, the preparation of high-quality single-cell suspensions from adult pancreas is pre- requisite. In this study, we applied a cold trypsin-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) digestion method to disas- sociate adult mouse pancreata into single cells. The yield of single cells and the viability of the harvested cells were much higher than those obtained via the two commonly used warm digestion methods. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the ratio of ductal or BCRPl-positive cells in cell suspensions prepared through cold digestion was con- sistent with that found in vivo. Cell culture tests showed that pancreatic epithelial cells prepared by cold digestion maintained proliferative capacity comparable to those derived from warm collagenase digestion. These results indicate that cold trypsin-EDTA digestion can effectively disassociate an adult mouse pancreas into viable single cells with minimal cell loss, and can be used for the isolation and analysis of pancreatic stem/progenitor cells.