A robust approach to differentiate human monocyte-derived microglia from peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Hazel Quek; Carla Cuní-López; Romal Stewart; Yi Chieh Lim; Tara L Roberts; Anthony R White

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101747

A robust approach to differentiate human monocyte-derived microglia from peripheral blood mononuclear cells

STAR Protoc. 2022 Dec 16;3(4):101747. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101747. Epub 2022 Oct 5.

Authors

Hazel Quek¹, Carla Cuní-López², Romal Stewart³, Yi Chieh Lim⁴, Tara L Roberts⁵, Anthony R White⁶

Affiliations

¹ Mental Health and Neuroscience, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia; School of Biomedical Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4059, Australia. Electronic address: hazel.quek@qimrberghofer.edu.au.
² Mental Health and Neuroscience, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia; Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia.
³ Mental Health and Neuroscience, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia.
⁴ Brain Tumor Biology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark.
⁵ Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research and School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Liverpool, NSW 2170, Australia.
⁶ Mental Health and Neuroscience, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4006, Australia; School of Biomedical Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address: tony.white@qimrberghofer.edu.au.

Abstract

Microglia are implicated in most neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we present a robust and efficient protocol to differentiate monocyte-derived microglia-like cells (MDMi) from whole blood. The protocol consists of three parts. The first part will describe two methods for PBMC isolation. This will be followed by MDMi differentiation, and lastly, the characterization of MDMi by immunocytochemistry. MDMi can be used to investigate microglial-related responses in various age-related neurodegenerative diseases and can be applied to drug testing on a personalized basis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Quek et al. (2022).

Keywords: Cell biology; Cell culture; Cell isolation; Health sciences; Immunology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Differentiation
Humans
Leukocytes, Mononuclear*
Microglia
Monocytes*