Re: Hepatocytes and Fibroblasts

From: David L. Haviland, Ph.D. (dhavilan@imm2.imm.uth.tmc.edu)
Date: Thu Nov 20 1997 - 16:53:50 EST


At 18:20 11/19/97 +0000, Dr Vishal Kumar Gulati wrote:
>I would be grateful if people on this list would like to share their
>experiences about FACsing fibroblasts and hepatocytes.
 
Vishal:

I like to think I can help...

The obvious:  trypsin is out.  You'll have to use a EDTA/PBS solution to
get the cells off.  I have always used 5mM EDTA in PBS.  You could also
seed them on a layer of collagen and use collagenase in hopes of getting
them off in single cells - I've never tried this as of yet.  

No matter what, you will get doublets, triplets, etc., going through the
machine in addition to just "singles".  Having just cleaned a massive clog
from my 70uM Vantage nozzle, I'd advise a pre-filter of 60 uM before
running!  

The EDTA solution causes some mortality.  In my hands, it is proportional
to how tenacous the cells are in clinging to the flask in the EDTA
solution.  COS and HEK cells, not long as they come off fairly quick.
However, epithelial cell lines and HepG2 cells, can take upwards of 10
minutes before they "decide" to come off.  Keritinocytes (from the next
lab, I'm told) can take as long as 25 minutes before they come off.  

You can't smack the cells too hard either, you'll kill 'em.  

As a result, personally  I use PI or 7ADD any time I take an adherent line
through the flow so that I gate out the dead cells.  Assessed with PI
exclusion, I've had an all time high of 92% viable, and as little as 42%
(ouch!)...  Even with gating, the data wasn't easy to interpret at 42%
viability either.  

Hopefully, you have lots of the cells you wish to use so you can determine
what conditions you need to use to 1) maintian viability, and 2) get as
many single cells as possible.

Hope this helps,
David

=============================
 David L. Haviland, Ph.D.
 Asst. Prof. Immunology 
 University of Texas - Houston, H.S.C.
 Institute of Molecular Medicine  
 2121 W. Holcombe Blvd.  
 Houston, TX  77030 
 Internet:"dhavilan@imm2.imm.uth.tmc.edu"
 http://www.uth.tmc.edu/~dhavilan 
 Voice: 713.500.2413  FAX: 713.500.2424
"A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking."
=============================



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