Immunomagnetic Isolation of Rat Bone Marrow-derived and Peritoneal Mast CellsMaria Celia Jamura, Ana Cristina G. Grodzkia, Andrea N. Morenoa, William D. Swaimb, Reuben P. Siraganianb, and Constance Oliverca Departamento de Biologia Celular, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil b Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland c Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia Correspondence to: Constance Oliver, Office of Naval Research, Code 335, 800 N. Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5660.
Mast cells are difficult to purify from heterogeneous cell populations and to preserve, especially for pre-embedding immunostaining at the ultrastructural level. We have developed a technique that permits the isolation of a pure population of mast cells suitable for immunocytochemical studies. A rat mast cell-specific monoclonal antibody (MAb AA4) conjugated to tosylactivated Dynabeads 450 was used to immunomagnetically separate mast cells from rat bone marrow and peritoneal cell suspensions. Approximately 85% of the mast cells were recovered in the positive population that comprised virtually pure mast cells. After microwave fixation, morphological examination showed that the cells were intact and retained their ultrastructural detail. Mast cells in all stages of maturation were immunolabeled with a panel of antibodies after immunomagnetic separation. The combination of immunomagnetic separation followed by immunostaining should prove useful for the study of mast cell maturation and for the characterization of other specific cell types that are present in tissues in only limited numbers. (J Histochem Cytochem 45:1715-1722, 1997) Key Words: mast cell, maturation, peritoneal cavity, bone marrow, immunomagnetic, immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy
The majority of studies on mast cell maturation in vivo have identified immature mast cells primarily by their morphological appearance (for review see
The present study extends the use of one of these mast cell-specific antibodies, MAb AA4, to the separation of mast cells in various stages of maturation from a mixed population of cells. Mast cells comprise only a small proportion of the cells in rat bone marrow and are present in all stages of maturation. Although the majority of peritoneal mast cells in the adult rat are mature, repopulation of the peritoneal cavity following distilled water injection is a commonly used model for mast cell maturation (
Previously, a panel of mouse MAbs was raised against the cell surface of RBL-2H3 cells, a rat basophilic leukemia cell line (
Since the introduction of immunomagnetic separation to deplete malignant neuroblastoma cells from bone marrow before autologous transplantation ( In this study, a method was developed that combines immunomagnetic separation of rat bone marrow-derived and peritoneal mast cells with subsequent immunoelectron microscopic characterization of the isolated cells. This method facilitates the isolation and characterization of mast cells in all stages of maturation.
Antibodies
Coupling of Antibody to Magnetic Beads
Cells
Cell Separation
Cell Counts Because many of the mast cells in the bone marrow are immature and are not metachromatic with toluidine blue, the percentage of mast cells present in the bone marrow was determined before isolation by counting, in a Neubauer Camera, the positive and negative cells after immunostaining with either MAb AA4 or anti-IgE. After immunomagnetic isolation, the number of mast cells was determined by counting the number of cells that were either free or attached to MAb AA4-conjugated beads with and without immuno-staining.
Light Microscopy
Electron Microscopy
Microwave Fixation.
Cells were suspended in 5 ml of fixative containing 2% formaldehyde, 0.05% glutaraldehyde, 0.025% CaCl2 in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4, and microwave-irradiated for 4 sec at 100% power ( Immunostaining. After microwave fixation the cells were incubated with primary antibody (MAb BC4 0.5 µg/ml; AD1 10 µg/ml) diluted in PBS + 1% BSA for 1 hr at RT. After incubation the cells were rinsed sequentially in PBS + 1% BSA, PBS, PBS + 1% BSA, and then incubated for 1 hr with donkey anti-mouse F(ab)'2 conjugated to horseradish peroxidase diluted (25 µg/ml final concentration) in PBS + 1% BSA. The cells were then rinsed in PBS + 1% BSA, PBS and 0.1 M cacodylate buffer (pH 7.4) and immersed in diaminobenzidine (DAB) (Kirkegard & Perry; Gaithersburg, MD) incubation medium (12.5 ml cacodylate buffer, 12.5 mg DAB, and 250 µl 1% H2O2) for 30 min at RT. The cells were then rinsed 10 times in cacodylate buffer. For light microscopy, endogenous peroxidase was blocked by incubating the samples for 30 min in 3% H2O2 in methanol at RT. For electron microscopy, some samples were packed by centrifugation in 2% agar. Cells incubated without primary antibody, or normal mouse IgG (5 µg/ml; Jackson ImmunoResearch) in place of primary antibody served as controls. No immunostaining was observed in any of the control preparations. Furthermore, no cells other than mast cells were stained in peritoneal or bone marrow cell suspensions.
Sample Processing
Using a mast cell-specific antibody, MAb AA4, conjugated to magnetic beads, it was possible to isolate pure populations of bone marrow derived and peritoneal mast cells in all stages of maturation (Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3). When the antibody-conjugated beads were mixed with bone marrow or peritoneal cell suspensions, the beads bound specifically to the mast cells (Figure 1A, Figure 1B, and Figure 2). If uncoated beads or beads coated with normal mouse IgG were used instead of MAb AA4-conjugated beads, no cells were bound. After immunomagnetic separation, two populations of cells were obtained. The positive population, composed of MAb AA4-conjugated magnetic beads and attached cells, contained over 99% mast cells (Figure 1C and Figure 1D; Table 1). The negative population, the total cell suspension minus the cells removed by the immunomagnetic beads, contained virtually no mast cells (Figure 1E and Figure 1F). The method was highly efficient, and over 85% of the mast cells were recovered from the initial cell suspensions from either the bone marrow or the peritoneal cavity. The efficiency of recovery was independent of the number of mast cells in the starting material but was dependent on the ratio of magnetic beads to mast cells. Although mast cells represent only 2.4 ± 0.6% of the cells in the bone marrow and 25 ± 4.5% of the cells in peritoneal washings (Table 2), both were recovered with equal efficiency and purity using a target bead:cell ratio of 3:1 (Table 1). If a lower number of beads, 2:1, was used, the recovery decreased significantly. When the bead:cell ratio was increased to 4:1, the mast cell recovery was not increased, but more non-mast cells were trapped in cell-bead aggregates.
Immunomagnetic separation with MAb AA4-coated beads did not induce degranulation (Figure 2), even though the surface of the cells was bound to the beads and in some cases, if fixation was delayed, the mast cells partially engulfed the beads (Figure 2A). By electron microscopy, the isolated mast cells showed no ultrastructural alterations. The cytoplasmic granules were intact and electron dense (Figure 2B).
Another advantage of immunomagnetic isolation was the ability to isolate mast cells in all stages of maturation and to characterize the isolated cells by immunomicroscopy. Three distinct stages of mast cell maturation could be distinguished: mature, immature, and very immature. The mature mast cells had a centrally located nucleus, a cytoplasm filled with dense granules, and few organelles (Figure 3A and Figure 3B). The immature mast cells had a concave nucleus, a well-developed Golgi apparatus, and variable numbers of electron-dense cytoplasmic granules (Figure 3C and Figure 3D). The very immature mast cells had a large lobated nucleus, virtually no cytoplasmic granules, and few organelles other than mitochondria (Figure 3E and Figure 3F). To confirm that the cells isolated with the MAb AA4 beads were indeed mast cells, they were immunolabeled with antibodies against mast cell surface components and IgE. MAb AD1 is directed against a rat mast cell-specific variant of CD63, a 50-60-kD glycoprotein present on the granule membrane and surface of mast cells. MAb BC4 is specific for the
The feasibility of immunomagnetic separation of lung mast cells was previously demonstrated (
Although the technique is simple and rapid, several steps in the method require particular attention. For immunomagnetic isolation of mast cells, tosylactivated magnetic beads were selected over anti-mouse IgG-coated beads available from Dynal for the conjugation of MAb AA4. Because mast cells have Fc
Most mast cell isolation procedures rely on cell density to purify mast cells. Immunomagnetic isolation appears to be superior to these other methods of isolating mast cells, especially immature mast cells. A major disadvantage of density-based purification is that mast cells can sediment with other cell types of similar density (
Supported in part by FUNPAR and CAPES. We thank Maria Tereza Picinoto Maglia, Jose Augusto Maulin for technical assistance, and Vera Regina Fontana Pioteke for preparation of the micrographs. We also thank the Department of Morphology, Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Faculdade de Medicina de Riberao Preto-USP for the use of their facilities. Received for publication February 24, 1997; accepted July 10, 1997.
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