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Updated: Apr 25, 2026
Isolation of Mouse Kidney-Resident CD8+ T cells for Flow Cytometry Analysis
Published on: June 27, 2020
T cell isolation from mouse kidneys
Isis Ludwig-Portugall1, Christian Kurts
1Institute of Experimental Immunology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105, Bonn, Germany.
The kidneys contain very few lymphocytes under homeostatic conditions. One kidney from a healthy mouse per average contains only 1-5 × 10(3) CD4(+) T cells. In immune-mediated kidney disease, γδ T cells, NKT cells, CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells, and regulatory T cells (Treg) infiltrate the kidney. Their numbers and subset composition of infiltrating T cells varies between the different forms of nephritis. For example, in glomerulonephritis CD4(+) T cells mediate renal injury, by local cytokine production, effector cell activation and/or by helping B cells to produce nephritogenic antibodies. A better understanding of the pathomechanisms of immune-mediated kidney diseases requires a method to isolate T cells from the kidney for ex vivo analysis. Here we describe an effective and specific isolation protocol for T cells from the murine kidney.
The kidneys contain very few lymphocytes under homeostatic conditions. One kidney from a healthy mouse per average contains only 1-5 × 10(3) CD4(+) T cells. In immune-mediated kidney disease, γδ T cells, NKT cells, CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells, and regulatory T cells (Treg) infiltrate the kidney. Their numbers and subset composition of infiltrating T cells varies between the different forms of nephritis. For example, in glomerulonephritis CD4(+) T cells mediate renal injury, by local cytokine production, effector cell activation and/or by helping B cells to produce nephritogenic antibodies. A better understanding of the pathomechanisms of immune-mediated kidney diseases requires a method to isolate T cells from the kidney for ex vivo analysis. Here we describe an effective and specific isolation protocol for T cells from the murine kidney.
