Protocol Dissection of murine collecting lymphatic vessels for imaging, single-cell analysis, and tissue culture of lymphatic muscle cells

In vivo and in vitro systems have the potential to provide a framework to study the organization, gene expression, and functionality of lymphatic and blood vessel smooth muscle cells in physiology and disease settings. A series of proced-ures are described here, including the surgical isolation of mouse collecting lymphatic vessels and blood vessels, whole-mount immunofluorescence staining of muscle cells on the vessels, and the enzymatic digestion and culture of cc -smooth muscle actin+ cells from the vessels. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jones et al. (2018).

Automated summary

This article presents methods and procedures for studying smooth muscle cells in lymphatic and blood vessels using in vivo and in vitro systems.