In Vitro Differentiation of Mouse Granulocytes

Granulocytes are central players of the immune system and, once activated, a tightly controlled balance between effector functions and cell removal by apoptosis guarantees maximal host benefit with least possible collateral damage to healthy tissue.Granulocytes are terminally differentiated cells that cannot be maintained in culture for prolonged times. Isolating primary granulocytes is inefficient and challenging when working with mice, and especially so for the lowly abundant eosinophil and basophil subtypes. Here we describe an in vitro protocol to massively expand mouse derived myeloid progenitors and to differentiate them "on demand" and in large numbers into mature neutrophils or basophils.