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Updated: Sep 23, 2025
Isolating Lymphocytes from the Mouse Small Intestinal Immune System
Published on: February 28, 2018
Isolation and analyses of lamina propria lymphocytes from mouse intestines
Eunha Kim1, Melissa Tran1,2, Yanyi Sun1
1Department of Immunology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Insights
This study presents an optimized protocol for isolating viable intestinal immune cells, crucial for studying immune responses. The method enables detailed analysis of these cells using flow cytometry and cytokine expression profiling.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Gastroenterology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Understanding intestinal immune responses is vital for local and systemic immunity.
- Isolating viable resident intestinal immune cells presents significant challenges.
- Lamina propria lymphocytes are key players in gut immunity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an optimized protocol for isolating high-viability lamina propria lymphocytes from the small and large intestines.
- To enable detailed analysis of isolated intestinal immune cells, including cytokine expression and surface/intracellular staining.
- To offer a adaptable method for isolating tissue-resident immune cells from various tissues.
Main Methods:
- Optimized protocol for isolating lamina propria lymphocytes from intestinal tissues.
- Lymphocyte activation techniques for cytokine expression analysis.
- Surface and intracellular antibody staining for flow cytometry.
Main Results:
- Successful isolation of viable intestinal immune cells.
- Demonstrated capability for cytokine expression analysis via lymphocyte activation.
- Established methods for comprehensive flow cytometry analysis of tissue-resident immune cells.
Conclusions:
- The optimized protocol effectively yields viable intestinal immune cells for downstream analysis.
- This method facilitates in-depth study of intestinal immunity and immune cell function.
- The protocol is adaptable for analyzing immune cells from other tissues with modifications.
Abstract:
Investigating intestinal immune responses is critical to understanding local and systemic immunity. However, obtaining resident intestinal immune cells with high cell viability can be challenging. Here, we provide an optimized protocol to isolate lamina propria lymphocytes from the small and large intestines, including lymphocyte activation for cytokine expression analysis and techniques for surface and intracellular antibody staining and flow cytometry. This protocol can be used for isolating and analyzing tissue-resident immune cells from other tissues with specified modifications. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Kim et al. (2022).
