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Updated: Dec 9, 2025
Characterization of Immune Cells in Human Adipose Tissue by Using Flow Cytometry
Published on: March 6, 2018
A reliable, reproducible flow cytometry protocol for immune cell quantification in human adipose tissue
Kerri Z Delaney1, Vi Dam1, Jessica Murphy1
1Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Applied Physiology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada; Metabolism, Obesity, Nutrition Lab, PERFORM Centre, Concordia University, 7200 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada; Centre de Recherche - Axe Maladies Chroniques, Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux Du Nord-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal, Hôpital Du Sacré-Coeur de Montreal, 5400 Boul Gouin O, Montréal, QC, H4J 1C5, Canada.
Insights
Accurately quantifying immune cells in adipose tissue is crucial for metabolic disease research. This study presents a reproducible flow cytometry protocol to overcome challenges with oily tissue and cell viability, enabling reliable immune cell analysis.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Metabolic disease research
- Adipose tissue biology
Background:
- Immune cell populations in adipose tissue are key to understanding metabolic disease.
- Flow cytometry is the standard for immune cell quantification.
- Analyzing adipose tissue immune cells is challenging due to tissue oiliness and rapid cell degradation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a reproducible flow cytometry protocol for immune cell quantification in human adipose tissue.
- To address the technical challenges associated with analyzing immune cells in adipose tissue.
Main Methods:
- Development of a novel flow cytometry protocol.
- Optimization for handling oily adipose tissue samples.
- Inclusion of methods to preserve immune cell viability during processing.
Main Results:
- The presented protocol ensures high reproducibility in immune cell quantification.
- The method effectively overcomes the challenges of adipose tissue complexity and cell viability.
- Accurate identification and quantification of immune cell subsets are achieved.
Conclusions:
- This optimized flow cytometry protocol provides a reliable method for immune cell analysis in human adipose tissue.
- The protocol facilitates deeper understanding of immune cell roles in metabolic health and disease.
- It offers a robust solution for researchers studying adipose tissue immunology.
Abstract:
The ability to accurately identify and quantify immune cell populations within adipose tissue is important in understanding the role of immune cells in metabolic disease risk. Flow cytometry is the gold standard method for immune cell quantification. However, quantification of immune cells from adipose tissue presents a number of challenges because of the complexities of working with an oily substance and the rapid deterioration of immune cell viability before analysis can be performed. Here we present a highly reproducible flow cytometry protocol for the quantification of immune cells in human adipose tissue, which overcomes these issues.
