A Simple and Efficient Method to Isolate Macrophages from Mixed Primary Cultures of Adult Liver

Kupffer cells are liver-specific resident macrophages and play an important role in the physiological and pathological functions of the liver(1-3). Although the isolation methods of liver macrophages have been well-described(4-6), most of these methods require sophisticated equipment, such as a centrifugal elutriator and technical skills. Here, we provide a novel method to obtain liver macrophages in sufficient number and purity from mixed primary cultures of adult rat liver cells, as schematically illustrated in Figure 1. After dissociation of the liver cells by two-step perfusion method(7,8), a fraction mostly composed of parenchymal hepatocytes is prepared and seeded into T75 tissue culture flasks with culture medium composed of DMEM and 10% FCS. Parenchymal hepatocytes lose the epithelial cell morphology within a few days in culture, degenerate or transform into fibroblast-like cells (Figure 2). As the culture proceeds, around day 6, phase contrast-bright, round macrophage-like cells start to proliferate on the fibroblastic cell sheet (Figure 2). The growth of the macrophage-like cells continue and reach to maximum levels around day 12, covering the cell sheet on the flask surface. By shaking of the culture flasks, macrophages are readily suspended into the culture medium. Subsequent transfer and short incubation in plastic dishes result in selective adhesion of macrophages(Figure 3), where as other contaminating cells remain suspended. After several rinses with PBS, attached macrophages are harvested. More than 10(6) cells can be harvested repeatedly from the same T75 tissue culture flask at two to three day intervals for more than two weeks(Figure 3). The purities of the isolated macrophages were 95 to 99%, as evaluated by flow cytometry or immunocytochemistry with rat macrophage-specific antibodies (Figure 4). The isolated cells show active phagocytosis of polystylene beads (Figure 5), proliferative response to recombinant GM-CSF, secretion of inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cytokines upon stimulation with LPS, and formation of multinucleated giant cells(9). In conclusion, we provide a simple and efficient method to obtain liver macrophages in sufficient number and purity without complex equipment and skills. This method might be applicable to other mammalian species.