Isolating Immune Cells from Mouse Embryonic Skin

Skin is the primary barrier against the external environment and develops a robust immune network for its surveillance. The origin of the resident immune cells of the skin has become a focus of interest over past a decade. Fate mapping studies have revealed that the macrophages home into the skin as early as E12.5 and are derived from the yolk sac and fetal liver. The resident γδT cells are born in the thymus and home to the skin by E16.5. Recent work from our lab has shown that the embryonic macrophages can actively remodel the extracellular matrix in skin suggesting that the skin immune system can be activated long before exposure to foreign antigens. In this chapter, we present a detailed protocol for isolating monocytes, macrophages, and epidermal dendritic T cell populations from embryonic skin.